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ETERNITY: 



ITS SCENES AND EEALITIES. 



BY 



Key. JOHN LEHMAN. 



THIRD EDITION. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

1860. 



?* 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by 

Thomas Sinex, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United 
States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 

T. SINEX, Printer, 619 Jayne St., Philada. 



The Library 
of Congress 



WASHINGTON 



PREFACE. 



To the subjects treated of in this little volume the atten- 
tion of the writer has been much directed. A trying event 
in his life, several years ago, more than ever impressed 
eternal objects upon his mind. For the last five years he 
has been traveling, during which period he occasionally 
preached upon these topics. He has also had two editions 
of the following Discourses published separately in pamph- 
let form, which he sold and distributed in bis journeyings. 
The readiness with which the people received them, and 
their frequent commendations of them, as well as the great 
benefit their preparation was to the writer himself, induced 
him to put them together and publish them as they are 
here presented. 

It is designed in the following discourses to show from 
the Sacred Scriptures and other sources, that the soul shall 
live for ever, and that the dead shall be raised, that there 
is a great and notable day of judgment, through the solemn 
scenes of which all must pass, that there is a vast and glo- 
rious Heaven,m which there are profound wonders of God's 
works and government to be the study and admiration of 
the righteous for ever and ever, and a horrible pit in which 
the wicked and the ungodly shall be eternally tormented. 

In view of these great and awful facts let the reader pon- 
der well his ways, and prepare by the grace of God to enter 
the future world. ! let him not hazard his eternal inter- 
ests, which are of more value than worlds. 

The last discourse in this little volume treats on the 
Human Race; in which the present moral and religious 
condition of the race is described ; and the duty of Chris- 
tians in relation to all who are out of Christ. 

J. L. 



CONTENTS. 

DISCOURSE I. 

The Immortality of the Soul, . . Page 3 

DISCOURSE II. 

The General Resurrection, . 23 

DISCOURSE III. 

The Last Judgment, . 49 

DISCOURSE IV. 

Heaven and Its Glory, . . . * 95 

DISCOURSE V. 

Hell and Its Misery, . » * . 119 

DISCOURSE VI. 

The Human Race, r „ 139 



MAN'S IMMOKTALITY 

OR 

FUTURE DESTINY. 



Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was ; and the spirit 
shall return unto God who gave it. — Ecclesiasties xii. 7. 

A few years, at farthest, are enough to com- 
plete the whole of man's mortal existence. The 
body is naturally frail ; it is always changing, 
and must of necessity soon yield to decay and 
death. For, however well fitted to house an 
immortal spirit, it is also so constituted as 
to permit that spirit, after a short time, to dis- 
connect itself and take its flight to other 
climes. 

Man's immortality or future destiny here 
brought to view, deserves our most serious at- 
tention. "We cannot approach the untried futu- 
rity that lies before us without the most tender 
and solemn reflections. Every sober thought 
of eternity inspires the soul with deep anxiety. 



4 man's immortality 

The fact that we shall live in the future state is 
enough to engage the attention of a rational 
and responsible being. How astonishing that 
any should be indifferent to it when the divine 
oracles speak of it as an immortality of bless- 
edness or woe ! 

We design arranging our remarks under 
the following proposition, namely : 

That the death of the body is not the end of 
maris being, but the beginning of an eternal and 
unchangeable state of existence. 

1. The language of Solomon, if we had no 
other information on the subject, would lead to 
this belief. He here declares in the most solemn 
manner that the dust, that is, the body, shall re- 
turn to the earth as it was ; and the spirit shall 
return unto God who gave it. These words are too 
plain to be misunderstood. They point directly 
to the almost infinite difference there is between 
these two component parts of man, his soul and 
body, when he comes to die. The body is said 
to be earthy, and that it must moulder back 
into the dust out of which it was at first formed ; 
but that the soul, being of a superior constitu- 
tion, instead of sharing in the fate of its com- 



OK FUTURE DESTINY. O 

panion has power to escape and ascend to the 
bosom of the great God from whom it came. 
It leaves the body perhaps in a far off chilly 
region, and soars to glory above the sun. For 
no man hath power to retain the spirit in the 
day of death. 

2. That man shall live after the death of the 
body appears from the nature of the service 
which God requires of him. Why has God 
made us ? Is it not that we should love and 
serve him ? For this purpose he has given us 
a knowledge of himself, and inspires us with 
hope and fear ; the one to encourage us in well- 
doing, and the other to restrain us from evil. 
He gives us great pleasure in his worship, and 
in communion with him through prayer and 
meditation, and in the reading and hearing of 
his Word, and makes us joyful under the influ- 
ence of the Holy Ghost, and the powers of the 
world to come. And must all this end with 
time ? Certainly not. For, if this were possible, 
then would man be the most miserable of all 
God's creatures. Even the condition of the 
beasts of the field and the fowls of the air would 
be vastly preferable; for these, although they 



6 man's immortality 

have no spiritual comforts nor hope, neither 
have they any fear of the future, and are at 
present in the possession of enjoyments suited to 
their nature. But man is required by the very 
rank he holds among created beings to govern 
himself, to subject his appetites and passions to 
a constant and rigid course of discipline, and all 
this that he may be fitted for future happiness. 
Now, the great God would not require all this 
service and self-denial of us, and give us such 
pleasure in doing his will, and then when we 
come to die suffer us to sink down into total an- 
nihilation and forgetfulness. This would be 
inconsistent with all views we have of his 
character as a just and merciful Being. 

3. The character of the human mind is an- 
other proof of our immortality. With what won- 
derful intellectual faculties has God furnished 
man! What vast stores of knowledge he is 
able to acquire and treasure up ! By means of 
the memory we can recollect past events and 
objects ; we can recall the impressions made upon 
our minds in the perusal of history, and send 
back our thoughts to the creation of the world, 
even to those remote periods when the chaotic 



OR FUTURE DESTINY. 7 

mass moved forward in the profundity of space 
without inhabitants. By his intellect, man has 
been able to ascertain the size, the shape, and 
the motions of our globe ; to analyze the invisi- 
ble atmosphere that surrounds us ; to understand 
the nature of thunder, and stop the swift light- 
ning in its course. By it he can leave the earth, 
and take a view of distant worlds, point out 
their paths, measure the circles of their motions, 
and explore in imagination those far-off regions 
of twinkling light whose distance is known only 
to Grod. Now, the soul is the true cause or 
medium by which we ascend from effect to 
cause, and from cause to cause, till we arrive at 
God himself, the great Author of all causes, and 
fixing oar intellectual eye upon Him are lost in 
contemplations of His infinite and adorable per- 
fections. Since, then, the Creator has formed 
us with such noble faculties, let none imagine 
that He has designed us for this brief state of 
existence only, and that all the powers of mind 
and body must end in death. 

Consider, too, that the human mind, however 
susceptible of expansion, does not reach its 
highest development in this life. The cares 



8 man's immortality 

and pursuits of the great majority of men pre- 
vent them from exercising their intellects as 
much as they desire upon those objects most 
agreeable to the soul. Much of our time is 
consumed in making provision for our temporal 
wants. We also meet with many hindrances 
and discouragements in our researches after true 
knowledge. But even if we had abundant lei- 
sure and every opportunity for acquiring infor- 
mation, how narrow would be the boundaries of 
our knowledge even at the end of the longest 
life, and how imperfect the highest exertions of 
the mind ! Truth and goodness, the proper food 
of the soul, are not received here with the keen- 
est relish, and we are always susceptible of 
higher degrees of improvement than we at any 
time either possess or exhibit. The most exten- 
sive acquisitions remain therefore to be made in 
the next world. Those stupendous faculties 
which God has lavished upon man shall then con- 
tinue to expand forever in an illimitable eternity. 
4. But man's ardent desire for happiness is an 
evidence that he shall live hereafter. It is com- 
mon for men to desire to be happy. It begins 
with our very existence ; it is often intense, and 



OR FUTURE DESTINY. 9 

seldom ceases. Now, tlie Lord has planted in 
the soul this desire for happiness, while he has 
not endowed created objects with a power fully 
to satisfy it, Much that there is in the world, 
calculated to make man happy, yet nothing can 
render the desired felicity. It is not to be 
found in the wealth and fashion of the city, or 
in the retired country village. Eank and office 
cannot yield it. It is not to be realized among 
the sweet flowers, in the delightful scenery of 
meadows, valleys, forests, and mountains, though 
all these contribute to our pleasure, and we see 
in them all the traces of an almighty God. It 
is nowhere to be found on land or water, though 
all nature greet us with her smiles, and speaks 
in tones of kindness to our hearts. King Solo- 
mon made a test of created objects as to how 
far they could conduce to man's happiness. 
And perhaps no person has lived since the days 
of Adam w r ho was better fitted for this purpose. 
But did these things render him completely 
happy? So far from it, that he pronounced 
them profitless, a vanity and vexation of spirit. 
Could you drink the delights of all earthly good, 
you would still feet a void in the soul, and con- 



10 man's immortality 

tinually new desires would arise that have not, 
and cannot be satisfied. " The eye is not satis- 
fied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing," 
how then should the ardent desires of the im- 
mortal soul be satisfied ? But there is a period 
rapidly approaching when these longings shall 
be met. That will be when we have left the 
shores of mortality, and wake up in the likeness 
of our God. in that future world of glory 
the Lord himself will be to us the fulness of the 
felicity we sought here, but realized only in 
part! What comfort this thought imparts to 
every believing child of God ! 

5. Man expects to live in the future. This 
his actions prove. He aims to live in the hearts 
of his countrymen when he has disappeared 
from earth. Why do men erect monuments, 
publish books, and engage in many famous pur- 
suits and dangerous exploits? It is because 
they neither expect nor desire to discontinue their 
existence when their bodies return to dust. We 
read of ancient heathen philosophers and poets, 
who were so delighted with the prospect of 
their immortality, that they could brave death 
without fear, regarding it as only the messenger 



OR FUTURE DESTINY. 11 

that was to convey their spirits to the regions of 
the blessed. And it was the expectation of future 
blessedness that enabled the Christian heroes 
to perform such noble and disinterested deeds, 
to face dangers and persecutions of every kind, 
to endure cruel Blockings, scourgings, bonds, 
and imprisonments, and not to regard their lives 
too dear a sacrifice, that they might spread the 
kingdom of Christ. Inspired with the hope of 
future good, the man of Grod can meet the king 
of terrors, and welcome his fiercest assaults. He 
longs for his departure as the hireling pants for 
the evening shade. The famous Augustine, 
after a life of devotion and Christian service thus 
addresses Grod, "0 Lord, shall I die at all ? Yes. 
Then, O Lord, if ever, why not now ; why 
not now? But thy will be done. Come, Lord 
Jesus." O how pleasing to claim an eternal in- 
heritance ! How transporting to the soul when 
ready to take its flight from the dissolving tene- 
ment to look forward through everlasting ages 
of happiness, and call them all its own. What 
a blessedness ! what a privilege this ! A happy 
immortality, what can charm us more ? 

But there is also a fear of the future. This 



12 man's immortality 

the dispositions and conduct of the ungodly 
evince. These would gladly avoid the future 
state if they knew how. The farther the wicked 
man supposes death to be from him, the less is 
he terrified in view of it and its fearful conse- 
quences. He may even go so far, while engaged 
in sinful pleasures, as to be wholly unconcerned 
as to what shall become of him hereafter. He 
may keep completely out of view both the past 
and the future. But it is very different when 
life declines and draws to a close. He then be- 
comes greatly alarmed ; his stings of conscience 
become intense, and he is at last compelled to 
view beyond his approaching dissolution, an 
awful eternity, ten thousand times more terrific 
than death itself. It is recorded of Hobbs, the 
noted infidel writer, that in old age he could 
bear no discourse on death, and that he died 
with great reluctance, and with terrible appre- 
hensions of the future. In his last moments he 
exclaimed, " I am taking a fearful leap in the 
dark." Thomas Paine, whose pernicious works 
have poisoned the minds of so many, it is said, 
yielded up his troubled spirit in a tempest of 
agony and despair. So it is with millions. 



OR FUTURE DESTINY. 13 

There is no end to the train of the ungodly. 
They know that they shall not cease to exist 
when their bodies die, and hence their deep an- 
guish and sorrow of heart at the end of life. 
Could they persuade themselves that all has 
ended with them in death, their fears instead of 
increasing would decrease as that period ap- 
proached. They might even rejoice, at the end 
of a wicked career, that all has ended in 
forgetfulness and everlasting night. But, alas ! 
alas ! for the workers of iniquity. They know 
and feel that they must live in the future world. 
Their consciences are ever goading them with the 
fearful recollection of their evil deeds, and filling 
them with gloomy forebodings of their coming 
doom. It is useless to ascribe this horrible convic- 
tion to education, which is so evidently the voice 
of conscience which speaks in every breast. Were 
it the result of education, then might it, like 
much that is learned, soon be forgotten. But 
this conviction, instead of being forgotten, is re- 
tained with increasing anxiety and intensity as 
the terrible day of the Almighty's wrath draws 
nigh. Ah ! the great God himself has impressed 
this solemn truth upon the mind, and impresesd 



14 man's immortality 

it so indelibly that it cannot be forgotten or 
erased ; but is as indestructible as the immortal 
soul itself. Say to the wicked, " Woe unto their 
soul ! for they have rewarded evil unto them- 
selves." 

6. Hear also what Jesus says touching this 
matter. When fortifying his disciples against 
the malice and violence of their enemies, he says : 
" Fear not them who kill the body, but are not 
able to kill the soul ; but rather fear Him who 
is able to destroy both body and soul in hell." 
How plainly Christ teaches here that the soul ; 
however closely united with the body, is superior 
to death, can evade its stroke, and live when 
the body is dead. And, were the union of 
these two parts of man such that they could 
not be separated, then would this circumstance 
be attended with the greatest disaster imagina- 
ble. For, if this were possible, then the man 
that smote his neighbor that he died, would at 
the same time also have become the murderer 
of his soul. But this is contrary both to 
reason and Scripture, and the express decla- 
ration of Christ, the infallible Teacher. How 
thankful ought we to be to the eternal Son of 



OE FUTUKE DESTINY. 15 

God, for having in so cautious a manner re- 
vealed this great truth. The Eev. Wilber Fisk 
thus expressed himself upon his dying bed : 
" Vain reasoners tell us the body and soul will 
go down into the dust together. But it is not so. 
So far from any body pressing my soul down to 
the dust, I feel as if my soul had almost power 
to raise my body upward and bear it away. 
And it will, at last, by the power of God, 
effectually bear it to heaven ; for its attractions 
are thitherward." It frequently happens that, 
though the death struggle be terrible, the puri- 
fied spirit leaves behind the stamp of its own 
glorious destiny. The happiness of heaven is 
often reflected in the countenance of the right- 
eous dead. 

7. We might add a long catalogue of wit- 
nesses in support of this sublime truth, but let a 
few more suffice. Jesus, when dying upon the 
cross, commits his human soul into the care of 
his heavenly Father in these remarkable words : 
"Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." 
Stephen, when sinking under the strokes of his 
murderers and persecutors, cries out, "Lord 
Jesus, receive my spirit." And Paul knew not 



16 man's immoktality 

how better to cheer the drooping spirits of his 
distressed Corinthian brethren, than by assuring 
them that, if their earthly tabernacles be dis- 
solved, they have a building of God, a house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. In 
the Epistle to the Hebrews, we read of Christians 
being introduced to an innumerable company of 
angels, and to the spirits of just men made per- 
fect. The wicked inhabitants, destroyed by the 
flood in the days of Noah, are in existence. The 
apostle Peter declares expressly that they are "re- 
served in prison and in chains of darkness to the 
judgment of the great day." And John tells us 
that he saw under the altar the souls of them that 
were slain for the Word of God, and for the tes- 
timony which they held ; and that they cried 
with a loud voice, saying : " How long, O Lord, 
holy and true, dost Thou not judge, and avenge 
our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" 
In short, this is the great doctrine taught by 
Christ and his apostles, and left for the edifica- 
tion of the human race in all future ages. The 
apostles lived and died in the belief of it. The 
same is true of Christians of every rank since 
their day. Animated by the expectation of 



OR FUTURE DESTINY. 17 

future joys, the martyr Poly carp was enabled 
at the stake of death, to fix his eye on the innu- 
merable host of redeemed spirits in the celestial 
world, and to pray, " O God, receive me among 
the righteous, before Thee this day." John 
Knox, the Scottish reformer, cauld say at the 
close of his life : " I have fought against spiritual 
wickedness in high places, and have prevailed. I 
have tasted of the heavenly joys where presently 
I shall be." And John Bunyan, the author of the 
Pilgrim's Progress, said to those about his dying 
bed : " Weep not for me, but for yourselves. I 
go to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
no doubt will receive me, though a sinner, 
through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
where I hope we shall ere long meet, to sing the 
new song, and remain happy for ever, world 
without end. Amen." 

We have now brought before you this mo- 
mentous subject — our immortality, and we pray 
you, ponder it well, for you must soon realize 
its truth. It matters not what may be your 
condition in life, what honors, or riches, or 
pleasures, or advantages you may possess, they 
cannot exempt you from the stroke of death, 
2 



18 man's immortality 

nor prevent 3 r ou from passing into tlie future 
world. Soon will the blood run cold in your 
veins, and tlie machine of life stand still. Soon 
sliall you be separated from your dearest and 
tenderest friends, and close your eyes and hearts 
forever against all earthly good. You sliall go 
from a world of changes and sorrows to the 
abodes of futurity, where your destiny will be 
unalterably and eternally fixed. "Will you, then, 
while dwelling amid present scenes and shadows 
that are swiftly fleeing away; O will you be 
regardless of that world of lasting realities, 
whither you are so rapidly tending ? It was 
an observation of Plato, the philosopher, that no 
man can be truly and steadily religious unless 
he firmly believes the immortality of the soul, 
and lives in a constant sense of it, and Solo- 
mon, a greater than Plato, and who lived before 
him, has shown us, in the second chapter of this 
book, the fatal tendency of a disbelief of this 
great doctrine. By renouncing it, men have 
run into every kind of sin and danger. It is 
therefore not only your duty, but highest inter- 
est to make diligent preparation for eternity. O 
prepare for it now, while you are in health and 



OR FUTUEE DESTINY. 19 

prosperity ! and the hope of realizing its joys 
will be soothing to yon in adversity, and cheer- 
ing in the time of sickness and on the bed of 
death. But the hour of your departure will be 
the most dreary and joyless of your whole lives, 
if you arrive at it with an unimproved and cor- 
rupted heart. And it is not improbable that 
some of you may die suddenly. In a moment 
you think not, Death may lay his iron hand 
upon you, and hurl you to the grave while your 
spirits go beyond. And just as your conduct 
and forebodings have been here, so will your 
condition be in eternity. Happy you that can 
review the past with pleasure, and can calmly 
anticipate the future ! What pen can describe 
the blessedness of the man that shall be cheered 
with a glorious immortality; but woe to him 
that neglects the vast concerns of the undying 
spirit. 



20 man's immortality 



PEAYEE. 

Thou who wast, and art, and art to come ; 
I AM is thy name, and this is thy memorial 
through all generations. Thou art a Spirit, 
self- existent, and infinitely secure against death 
or hurt of any kind. How glorious, with im- 
mortality attached to them, are all thy attributes, 
Lord God of truth ! But thou hast also made 
man, not only for this short life, but for eternity. 
Thou hast given us souls capable of living forever, 
and susceptible of vast enjoyment and expansion. 
Yea, Thou hast implanted within our souls de- 
sires boundless as infinity, and inclinations which 
nothing earthly can satisfy ; and hast given us 
faculties ever thirsting after more information 
and grasping at something beyond their reach. O 
that we might properly feel the value of that 
knowledge which we possess as beings endowed 
with immortality ! Father of light and mercy ! 



OR FUTURE DESTINY. 21 

Parent of good I "What shall we render unto 
Thee, or how can we thank Thee enough for the 
gift of reason which raises lis above the beasts, 
and assimilates lis to the character of angels ? 

And since we are so often made to feel the 
insufficiency of earthly things to satisfy the long- 
ings of our souls, we may be disposed rather 
to detach our affections from present objects 
than to be too much excited by them ! And 
may the near view of eternity peculiarly assist 
us in our moderation as to wordly good. The 
time is short, the end of all things is at hand. 
Of what real value then are those objects which 
must soon disappear from our view ? Of what 
great importance are those possessions and plea- 
sures which so often bring cares and a sting, 
and which, in a few fleeting years or months, 
will be wholly powerless to please. Give us 
grace, therefore, that we may avoid the allure- 
ments of sense, and never debase our faculties 
by pursuits beneath the dignity of human nature, 
or inconsistent with the sacred duties of religion. 



22 man's immortality or future destiny. 

But O may we seek earnestly and in time, those 
more substantial joys that lie beyond the grave ! 
May we live as candidates for the blessed im- 
mortality of thy people. Dreading the end of 
the wicked, may we seek a well established hope 
that can stand the severest trials and afflictions, 
and secure to us the protection of the Lord of 
life and death. May we live the life, that we 
may die the death of the righteous, and find 
the dark valley only a short passage into the 
world of bliss. And through everlasting ages, 
O our God, may we be permitted to join the 
happy throng of redeemed spirits in songs of 
praise around thy throne ! Amen. 



THE EESUEEECTION OF THE BODY, 
OE OF ALL THE DEAD. 



Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, 
that God should raise the dead ? — Acts xxvi. 8. 

This question the apostle Paul put to King 
Agrippa when defending himself at the bar of 
Festus. The apostle had been arraigned there 
by the Jews on the charge of having offended 
them by declaring that Jesus, whom they had 
crucified as the greatest of criminals, was actu- 
ally alive. There were present at this trial 
several distinguished individuals, of whom 
Agrippa was the most eminent. This person- 
age was a proselyte to the Jewish religion, and 
somewhat acquainted with Jewish learning and, 



24 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY, 

therefore better understood the nature of the 
offence with which the apostle was charged, 
than the others. And this is no doubt the rea- 
son the apostle directs his discourse more espe- 
cially to him, and requests his particular 
attention. For we find him speaking in the 
following manner : " I think myself happy King 
Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this 
day before thee, touching all the things whereof 
I am accused of the Jews. And now I stand 
and am judged for the hope of the promise 
made of God unto our fathers, unto which pro- 
mise our twelve tribes instantly, serving God 
day and night, hope to come. For which hope's 
sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews." 
The apostle contends that the resurrection of 
Jesus was but a certainty and pledge of a future 
general resurrection, which the Jews themselves 
as a nation did not deny, and which he con- 
ceived to be not inconsistent with sound reason. 
For he exclaims : "Why should it be thought a 
thing incredible with you," O King Agrippa, 



OK OF ALL THE DEAD. 25 

and all that hear me to-day, "that God should 
raise the dead." 

In speaking upon this fundamental truth of 
the Christian religion, we observe : 

I. That the Resurrection of the dead is a doc- 
trine no where taught except in the Bible, and there 
most clearly revealed in the New Testament, 

1. The ancient heathen nations had the most 
vague views of man's future condition, especial- 
ly as it respected the body. The most generally 
received opinion was, that as soon as man died 
his soul passed into a separate state, where it 
received a body totally different from the one it 
had before. But it seems not to have entered 
into the mind of the heathen that the same 
body they saw laid in the grave, or burnt to 
ashes and scattered to the winds, should ever 
be raised again and re-animated. Even the in- 
habitants of Athens, so famous for learning in 
the days of the apostle, regarded him as the in- 
troducer of strange gods, because he preached 



26 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY, 

Jesus and the resurrection. The resurrection of 
the body was a something so entirely different 
from all the views they had of man's future 
condition, that they totally misunderstood Paul, 
and supposed that he was contending for the 
worship of two deities to them before unknown 
and unheard of. So completely blind were they 
to this consolatory doctrine that they ridiculed 
it and the apostle for preaching it. On one oc- 
casion, when he merely made mention of the 
resurrection of the dead, "some mocked, and 
others said, we will hear thee again of this 
matter." As for Festus, it is probable that for 
a short time he gave attention to what the apos- 
tle had to say in defence of himself and doctrine. 
But, as the resurrection of the dead was in his 
opinion a wild theory, suited only to the par- 
tially insane, he soon cries out : " Paul, thou art be- 
side thyself ; much learning hath made thee mad." 
To this hasty conclusion Festus surely could not 
have come had he given the subject only a slight 
examination. But this is not so surprising when 



OR OF ALL THE DEAD. 27 

we consider that lie was wholly taken up with 
political matters ; and, further, that some of the 
most profound philosophers of antiquity looked 
upon the resurrection of the body as an impos- 
sibility, and that those heathen sages, who 
flourished in the early ages of Christianity, pro- 
nounced this doctrine an absurd and ridiculous 
assertion. Even Celsus, who in the judgment 
of some deserves to be regarded as more than 
merely a heathen philosopher, styles this article 
of the Christian faith, "the hope of worms — a 
filthy thing which God neither will nor can 
do." 

2. Nor did the Jews as a people fully compre- 
hend this great doctrine. Their ancient Scrip- 
tures but dimly revealed it. Still, there are 
passages in the Old Testament which, if not 
satisfactory to the Jew living under that cloudy 
dispensation, have nevertheless become so to 
us who have the superior light of the New 
Testament. One of these is the declaration of 
pious Job : " I know that my Eedeemer liveth, 



28 THE KE3URKECTI0N OF THE BODY, 

and that lie will stand at the latter day upon 
the earth; and though after my skin worms 
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see 
God; whom I shall see for myself ; and mine 
eyes shall behold, and not another, though my 
reigns be consumed within me." Another is 
where David, making a difference between him- 
self and the ungodly, who live regardless of the 
future world, thus speaks : " As for me, I will 
behold thy face in righteousness ; I shall be 
satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." And 
Isaiah at one place expresses himself in the fol- 
lowing language: "Thy dead men shall live, 
together with my dead body shall they arise. 
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust ; for thy 
dew is as the dew of the herbs, and the earth 
shall cast out the dead." But it is to the New 
Testament that we turn our eyes for a full de- 
velopment of this cheering truth. We shall not 
however stop at present to draw arguments 
directly from this source, as what we have from 



OK OF ALL THE DEAD. 29 

it is included under other heads of our dis- 
course, but proceed to observe : 

3. That the resurrection of the dead may 
be inferred from the infinite power of God- 
Nothing short of Omnipotence could effect it. 
Angels, though very powerful beings, shall 
only aid in its accomplishment so far as they 
may be permitted or instructed by God. These 
are the heralds that shall go forth with trumpets 
to announce its approach, and to " gather to- 
gether the elect from the four winds, from one 
end of heaven to the other." But the great 
work itself will be the immediate result of 
Almighty Power. Nor will it be difficult for 
God to raise the dead. He who at first created 
man out of nothing, and breathed into him a 
living soul, can easily, at any time he is dis- 
posed, reproduce and reanimate him. It mat- 
ters not where the body may happen to be, or 
what its condition. It may be in the tomb, or 
in the ocean, or have evaporated into air, or 



30 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY, 

been changed into other forms of existences ; or 
it may have been divided into twelve parts, as 
was that of the Levite's concubine, and buried 
at twelve different places. All this will present 
no barrier to that all-wise and powerful Being 
"who measures the waters in the hollow of his 
hand, and meteth out the heavens with a span, 
and comprehendeth the dust of the earth in a 
measure ; who weigheth the mountains in scales, 
and the hills in a balance, and before whom the 
nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted 
as the small dust of the balance." It would be 
less difficult, if difficulty could belong to God, 
to collect, and rebuild, and reanimate the de- 
ceased frame, than originally to have produced 
it out of nothing, and moulded it into its present 
beautiful form and symmetrical proportions, just 
as an artist, for example, can with greater ease 
join together a curious machine of his own con- 
struction, after he has taken it to pieces, than 
he could at first devise and frame it. But in 
this instance, as it would be in every other, the 



OE OF ALL THE DEAD. 31 

difference is infinite. The artist requires much 
time, and uses many and various instruments in 
inventing and constructing, or in repairing any- 
ingenious piece of workmanship ; while Jehovah, 
needs neither time, nor deliberation, nor instru- 
ments to produce or reproduce whatever he 
pleases. 

4. That the dead shall rise may be inferred 
from God's providential care over man. How 
manifest are his agency and goodness in all his 
dealings with his rational creatures! Of this 
David gives us a signal instance in his own 
preservation. We hear him thus extolling God: 
" I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and won- 
derfully made ; marvellous are thy works, and 
that my soul knoweth right well ; my substance 
was not hid from Thee when I was made in 
secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts 
of the earth. Thine eye did see my substance, 
yet being imperfect; and in thy book all my 
members were written, which in continuance 
were fashioned, when as yet there was none of 



32 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY, 

them." God's all-seeing eye takes notice of the 
beginning and gradual increase of the embryo 
in the womb, and of every minute atom that at 
any time belonged to the body, so that we are 
always under his cognizance and inspection. 
He numbers the hairs of our head, and is the 
Father of our spirits. In him we live, and 
move, and have our being. Can anything be 
too difficult for such a Being? 0, with what 
inconceivable ease can he recall the shivered 
and dissolved tenement of clay, and make every 
part seek its own proper place. In the twink- 
ling of an eye, he can call up before him all the 
slumbering millions of the dead. He need but 
speak, and it is done. 

5. From the peculiar structure of the human 
body we may infer that it shall rise again. How 
frail it is ! how quickly it dissolves ! Like the 
fowls of the air, and the beasts of the field, so 
we pass away. Some of these, naturalists tell 
us, even outlive man. Could the body then be 
regarded as a suitable companion for the im- 



OR OF ALL THE DEAD. 33 

mortal spirit, if it liad no farther existence than 
in the present state ? Does it seem reasonable 
that these two parts of man are designed by God 
to live together nowhere except in this short 
life ? To suppose no more is to reflect impi- 
ously upon that almighty Creator, whose wis- 
dom, power, and goodness are so conspicuous 
in all his works. Consider, too, the body is an 
essential part of man, as well as the soul, and 
although they are very unequal in their holy 
operations, still their concurrence is necessary 
for any purpose. The great actions designed 
by the counsel and resolution of the soul are 
performed by the ministry of the body, and 
every spiritual grace is expressed by bodily 
actions. In the sorrows of repentance the eyes 
supply the tears ; in thanksgiving, the tongue 
is used to break forth in praises; and all the 
victories the soul gains over pleasure or pain 
are in union with the body. And can it be 
supposed that the divine Being will treat them 
so differently hereafter as to make the soul 

3 



34 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY, 

eternally happy, and to suffer the body to be 
lost in utter ruin and forgetfulness ? Shall the 
one be glorified in heaven, and the other remain 
forever in the dust ? From their beginning in 
the world they both run the same race, and 
must therefore receive the same reward. "When 
the crown of glory shall be given to the right- 
eous, in the view of congregated millions, the 
body as well as the soul shall partake of the 
honor. 

If you would see emblems of your future 
immortality and resurrection, you need but 
take a walk in your garden in the spring of the 
year. There you will see plants, some just 
shooting out of the earth, and others in full 
bloom under the increasing heat of the great 
orb of day. Go and ask the husbandman, and 
he will tell you he has learned from experience 
that the seed he sows is not quickened except 
it die. He will tell you he covers it in the 
ground that it may putrify before he looks for 
its future glory in the stalk, the blade, and the 



OK OF ALL THE DEAD. 35 

full corn in the ear. And the sleep of the 
caterpillar is not perpetual, but merely the 
forerunner of a new state of existence. After 
its transformation, it appears again more perfect 
and brilliant. Before, it crept upon the earth ; 
but it now flies in the air, and lightly skims 
over the surface of a thousand flowers, sipping 
honey and the pleasant dew. Now, all this 
may help you to imagine with what infinite 
ease the great Lord of heaven and earth may 
turn our dead bodies into living substances. 
But we observe : 

II. That at the Resurrection all must appear 
in their true identical bodies. 

1. The Scriptures are sufficiently express 
upon this view of the subject to support our 
faith in it. The declaration of Job: " Though 
worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall 
I see God," is of itself enough to prove the 
identity of the resurrection body. Our bodies 
will no doubt undergo very important changes 



36 THE RESURRECTION" OF THE BODY, 

and improvements at the time of their glorifi- 
cation. But these will be such as not to 
change their substance. This will remain the 
same while they are fashioning after the most 
glorious body of Christ. Then shall our cor- 
ruptible properties become incorruptible; and 
our mortal nature put on immortality. We 
shall be quickened and changed. But it may 
still be asked, as it was in the days of Paul: 
"How are the dead raised up, and with what 
kind of body do they come?" This inquiry the 
Apostle answers by giving a comparison taken 
from seed sown in the ground. When he says : 
"Thou so west not that body that shall be," he 
is speaking of the properties and not of the sub- 
stance of the resurrection body. This is evident 
from the conclusion he draws, "so also is the 
resurrection of the dead," that is the body. 
" It is sown in corruption, and raised in incor- 
ruption ; it is sown in dishonor, and raised in 
glory; it is sown in weakness, and raised in 
power ; it is sown a natural body, and raised 



OR OF ALL THE DEAD. 37 

a spiritual body." All this seems to be in- 
tended to be expressive only of the proper- 
ties and not of the substance of the future body 
that shall rise. 

2. Again ; the Scriptures inform us that the 
hour is coming when all that are in the graves 
shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and 
shall rise ; and that the sea shall give up the 
dead which are in it. Now, if the Lord did 
not intend to give us our true bodies, those 
buried in the dust of the earth, could not be 
said to revive and come forth, nor could the 
ocean be said to deliver up its dead. And what 
is the object of our appearing before the judg- 
ment-seat of Christ ? Is it not " that every one 
may receive the things done in his body accord- 
ing to that he hath done, whether it be good or 
bad?" And is it not inconsistent with all we 
know of the nature of a just retribution that a 
person who served or offended God in one 
body, should afterwards be rewarded or punished 
in a body totally different ? And how will it 



38 THE RESURRECTION" OF THE BODY, 

be with, such as may be alive at the end of the 
world, and shall therefore be exempted from 
death. ? Now, these we are told shall be caught 
up together with those that are dead, to meet 
the descending Judge in the clouds, and then 
shall ever be with the Lord. If, then, these are 
to be caught up to meet the Saviour in their 
true identical bodies, only with those bodies 
spiritualized and glorified, why should not those 
who have been buried appear in their true 
identical bodies ? To suppose that this will not 
be the case, is to suppose a very great disparity 
among the saints at the last day. But, further, 
Grod has been pleased to give us examples of 
the identity of the resurrection body ; and this 
he has done for the purpose of strengthening 
and establishing our faith in it. When Jesus 
burst the bars of death and arose, many graves 
were opened, and the bodies of saints that slept 
arose and came out of them, and appeared to 
many. And there can be no doubt that these 
saints arose with the same bodies that were laid in 



OK FUTURE DESTINY. 39 

the tomb, or they would not have been known. 
Their nearest relations and best acquaintances 
would not have recognized them. Thus the 
resurrection of the same body is presented in 
so many different ways, that it is strange that 
any one should disbelieve it or attempt to 
confute it. 

3. But it is not to be supposed that the entire 
substance of the natural body will enter into the 
formation of the spiritual one. It is probable 
that little more than the general shape and pro- 
portions of the decayed body will be retained 
in the heavenly. And there is good reason for 
this opinion. The body is to be raised in sur- 
prising beauty and glory ; and for the service 
and enjoyment of a divine life. That life will 
be so entirely different from the present that it 
were absurd to imagine that these natural build- 
ings are an exact model of what the future 
glorious body will be. The body now possesses 
many parts which will doubtless be superfluous 
in the next world. When we are once rescued 



40 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY 

from the bondage of corruption, we will re- 
quire no more repairings ; for we shall neither 
hunger nor thirst any more. We shall then be 
divested of those fleshy parts and of that 
strength and weight of bone and blood which, 
though necessary to animal life, and to enable 
us to endure labor and hardship, must never- 
theless be useless there. In the future state 
there will be no occasion for these, and the 
celestial body will assume that formation best 
adapted to the service of the soul and the exer- 
cise of spiritual faculties. For these purposes 
surely a far less quantity of matter than man 
now possesses will suffice. 

Have you carefully noticed the structure of 
the human frame ? Then must you also have 
been struck with its frugal and graceful figure, 
and its very fit adaptation to our wants and cir- 
cumstances in this world. And if this tene- 
ment of clay be so curiously wrought for the 
purposes of this brief life, only imagine with 
what grace, and dignity, and art the heavenly 



OE OF ALL THE DEAD. 41 

body must be moulded — that body which is to 
serve the exalted powers of the soul for ever, 
and taste the new and superior delights of an 
angelic life. While therefore the Scriptures 
teach us plainly enough that the future body 
shall be formed out of the materials of the de- 
cayed one, they no where tell us that all the 
materials of the earthly body must enter into 
the composition of the heavenly. Nor is this 
necessary in order that it may be known to 
be the same body that rises. Our identity 
will be perceived in the resurrection, if we re- 
tain only the general features or lineaments of 
what we now are. And this is all we contend 
for, and all the Bible authorizes us to look for. 
We observe : 

III. That the Resurrection will he an event 
awfully solemn and impressive. 

1. Jesus, when foretelling the destruction of 
Jerusalem, takes occasion to speak of the end of 
the world, and makes mention of several things 



42 THE KESURBECTTOlSr OF THE BODY, 

that would immediately precede it. "Then," 
says lie, " shall the Son of Man come in the 
clouds of heaven with power and great glory, 
and shall send his angels with a great sound of 
a trumpet, and they shall gather together his 
elect from the four winds, from one end of 
heaven to the other." And Paul says : " The 
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a 
shout, and with the voice of the archangel, and 
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ 
shall rise first ;" and then those " that are alive 
and remain shall be caught up together with 
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." 
It was customary in remote ages to call together 
large assemblies of people by the sounding of a 
trumpet ; so will God by the voice of the arch- 
angel and a trumpet aroiise the slumbering 
nations of the dead, and call them to the judg- 
ment of the great day. Then also shall go forth 
from Christ that divine power by which he 
raised himself from the dead, and shall collect 
all the scattered and fragmentary bodies of his 



OR OF ALL THE DEAD. 43 

people ; and re-organize and remodel them into 
most glorious and magnificent bodies. And 
then those happy souls that formerly inhabited 
them ; haying descended with their Lord out of 
heaven ; shall re-enter and re-animate them with 
immortal life, vigor, and youth. In the mean- 
time the living inhabitants shall be changed, 
transformed, and glorified, quickly, even in the 
twinkling of an eye. 0, what an impressive, 
imposing scene this ! Cast forward your eye to 
the rising millions of the glorified just ! See 
how they come forth like so many stars, to 
shine forever in the kingdom of their Father 
and God ! 

Finally, my Christian friends, take to your- 
selves the consolation this great subject is calcu- 
lated to afford you. Think, think ! what a 
comfort the resurrection of the dead was to 
holy Job, in his many and heavy afflictions ; so 
may it be with you, whatever may be your 
circumstances or condition in life. There is no 
state so uncomfortable which this anchor of the 



44 THE KESUKKECTION OF THE BODY, 

soul, both, sure and steadfast, cannot sooth and 
sweeten. Are you in want and neglect, how 
pleasant to think there is no one so great, or 
happy, or rich, or honorable, or beloved, but 
that by haying a little more patience you may 
soon be infinitely more so! Have you griefs 
and pains, how consoling to know that there is 
a world where sorrow, and sighings, and pain 
shall be known and felt no more, and where all 
tears shall be wiped from all eyes ! Have you 
bodily defects, how consoling to be assured that 
these shall be cured in the grave, and shall 
have no appearance in that incorruptible body 
that shall rise out of it; for this shall have 
neither spot, wrinkle, nor any such, thing ! 
And when your pious relations and friends 
die, ! how strong a consolation it is to believe 
that, although they are now forced from you 
by an inevitable decree, yet, there shall once 
be a general discharge when they shall again 
be restored and enter with you into the joys 
of your Lord, to be parted no more. And 



OE OF ALL THE DEAD. 45 

what a comfort and satisfaction will it be 
to yon when yon come to die, to be able to 
look npon Death, the king of terrors, as an 
enemy disarmed of his power, and only the 
medium of a safe retreat from a world of sin 
and sorrow, and of a happy entrance into a land 
of peace and undisturbed tranquility forever. 
O, how many and great the consolations which 
this sublime doctrine affords to the good and 
virtuous in all the vicissitudes of life I Has it 
been a comfort to us ? Have we the faith and 
practice necessary to enable it to yield us this 
consolation ? Do we believe that there will be 
a resurrection both of the just and the unjust ? 
Then, like Paul, let us strive to have always a 
conscience void of offense towards God and 
man ; and so, when our earthly tabernacles are 
dissolved, there shall arise out of them spiritual 
buildings to remain eternally in the lofty 
heavens. 



43 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY, 



PEAYEE. 

Almighty God ! with what emotions ought 
we, who are the creatures of yesterday, to come 
into thy solemn and sacred presence. "We are 
found broken reeds and broken cisterns, but 
Thou art the Eock of ages, and the fountain of 
living waters. Thou art our Creator, the 
Framer of our bodies and the Former of our 
souls ; and although we must die, yet we shall 
live again. We believe that as in Adam all 
die, so in Christ Thy Son shall all be made alive. 
We rejoice in the glorious truth of the resur- 
rection of the dead, and that Jesus is the first 
fruits of them that sleep. May we view his 
resurrection as the pledge and model of our 
own, and believe that these corruptible bodies 
shall once be fashioned like his most glorious 
body. With much gladness would we contem- 



OR OF ALL THE DEAD. 47 

plate the period when wes hall be free from bodily 
pain ; corruption, and deformity, and when our 
bodies shall put on immortality, and rise glori- 
ously from the tomb, to be no more subject to 
any tendency to decay or dissolution. for that 
sublimation, refinement, and purification which 
shall enable us to sustain the inconceivable de- 
lights of the eternal world ! Help us, our Grod, 
to keep these bodies undefiled from sin and pre- 
served blameless unto the coming of Christ. 
And may we not rest satisfied with our spiritual 
and eternal condition till we are able to say, 
" blessed be God, who, according to his abundant 
mercy, hath begotton us again unto a lively 
hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from 
the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, unde- 
filed and that fadeth not away, reserved in 
heaven for us." 

And, while we live in this world of trials, and 
temptations, and dangers, and wants, may we 
rejoice that Jesus, who was dead, is alive again, 
and liveth at thy right hand, to intecede for us, 



48 THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY, &C. 

and has power to deliver, to defend, and supply 
us . And in all our bereavements may we be com- 
forted by the persuasion that those of us who are 
near and dear to each other, and to Thee, will 
once be permitted to set down together in 
heavenly habitations to be parted no more. 
When, therefore, death shall come upon us, may 
we, with humble confidence, be able to say, " I 
know that my Eedeemer liveth, and shall stand 
at the latter day upon the earth ; and, though, 
after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in 
my flesh shall I see God." Yea, may we have a 
final triumph over the powers of darkness, death, 
and the grave, through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, 
shall be all honor and glory forever. Amen. 



'<% <fortatntij aniiiftui nf % Xnst Su^gment- 



tl Because he (God) hath appointed a day in the which he will 
judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath 
ordained : whereof he hath given assurance unto all men. in that 
he hath raised him from the dead. ; ' — Acts xvii. 31. 

This Scripture forms a sentence in the Apostle 
Paul's address, on Mars-Hill, to the inhabitants 
of Athens. His soul was much affected on see- 
ing the people wholly given to idolatry and 
superstition. He therefore proclaims to them 
the Lord of heaven and earth, whom they igno- 
rantly worshipped, as u the unknown God." He 
informs them that they are the offspring of this 
great God, and that they should seek after Him 
that they might find Him, and should repent of 
their sins, because he had appointed a certain 
time when he would judge the world in right- 
eousness by his own Son Jesus Christ. The 



£0 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

subject thus introduced is a very solemn and 
highly interesting one; and is well calculated to 
arouse even the most inactive mind to serious 
thought and reflection. 

In the continuation of our remarks ; therefore, 
we notice. 

I. That the last Judgment is an event that will 
most surely come to pass. 

1. The Scriptures declare this solemn fact, 
and they are written by the inspiration of the 
true God. In the text we are told expressly 
that God has (t appointed a day," that is, a fixed 
time for the judgment of the world, and that 
Jesus, now our loving Saviour, will be the Judge 
on that notable day, and that we all have suffi- 
cient assurance of this in his resurrection from 
the dead. The Saviour himself tells us that he 
will be the Judge at the last day. For, says he, 
"The Father hath committed adjudgment unto 
the Son, and hath given him authority to exe- 
cute judgment, also, because he is the Son of 
man." And Peter, in speaking of the injunction 
which our Lord gave him and the other 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 51 

Apostles, says, "He commanded us to preach 
unto the people, and to testify that it is he who 
was ordained of God to be the Judge of the 
quick and dead." And Paul knew not how 
better to urge forward Timothy in the faithful 
discharge of his ministerial duties than by re- 
minding him that he labored in the sight of 
"God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, w r ho shall 
judge the quick and the dead at his appearing 
and his kingdom." And what says Christ when 
alluding to the end of the world ? "Then shall 
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven ; 
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, 
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the 
clouds of heaven with power and great glory." 
The manner of the Saviour's descent, and the 
wonderful proceedings of that awful day, are 
fully revealed in the sacred Scriptures, and we 
are made to understand that in immediate con- 
nection with these things, "the heavens beino- 
on fire shall dissolve, and the elements shall melt 
with fervent heat ; and the earth also, and the 
things that are therein shall be burnt up." 

2. But the voice of conscience also proclaims 
a judgment to come. There is in every man a 



52 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

certain living principle that informs and directs 
him what to do and what to avoid, and which 
either encourages or discourages him as he does 
good or evil. He that does well, experiences 
pleasure and satisfaction, whilst fear and distrust 
seize those that do ill. And this is always the 
case, no difference whether a reward be expected, 
or a punishment dreaded in this present life or 
not. A man's deeds may be wholly secret, and 
yet as their character is either good or bad, his 
conscience acquits or condemns him as much as 
if they were known to the whole world. And 
so generally does this truth apply that the dicta- 
tions of conscience are found in every rational 
being, whether enlightened by the Scriptures or 
not; and it is that principle in man that is 
superior to everything else. Conscience cannot 
be overawed by power, or charmed by pleasure, 
or diverted by business, or conquered or banished 
by any means whatever. It strikes, without re- 
gard to persons, with an impartial and inexorable 
justice. What was it that made Tiberius pine 
away with anguish upon his throne, and drew 
from him the bitter confession that he was as 
miserable as the gods could make him ? It was 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 53 

conscience. This voice, speaking from within, 
would never permit him to dismiss the dismal 
expectation of a future account. What was it 
that troubled king Saul in the last years of his 
life? Conscience. And it was the remorse of 
conscience that slew Judas Iscariot. To all such 
the last judgment is an object of fear and dread 
And has not conscience disturbed the peace of 
some of you, and compelled you to look into 
the future with alarm ? Has it not told you, 
who are living in your sins, that you are exposed 
to God's displeasure, and that when Christ, the 
Judge, shall appear, and call you to an account 
for your actions, you will be unable to stand 
before him, or to answer him ? O, how sad the 
forebodings of this inward monitor to all the 
impure and ungodly! 

How different from all this is it with the good 
and virtuous. These are always at peace with 
themselves, whatever may be their outward cir- 
cumstances. With pleasure they can look back 
on a well-spent life, and with singular fortitude 
and unconcern they pass through the severest 
trials. Certain they are that Providence will at 
some day appear in their favor. They are fully 



54 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

convinced that folly and violence can only domi- 
neer in this life, but that reason and honesty will 
be considered, and will prevail in eternity. 
Thus persuaded, their spirits are cheered, their 
resolutions strengthened, and they are made 
superior to every opposing power and influence. 
"What was it that graced and dignified Socrates 
at his trial ? An unimpeachable conscience. 
Yes ; the hope of appearing after death, before 
more honorable Judges, who would give him an 
impartial hearing, made him disregard the 
malice of his enemies, and drink the deadly 
draught with total indifference. What was it 
that supported Paul in labors, and afflictions, 
and persecutions, till the end of his life? A 
good conscience, enlightened from heaven. Hear 
how this steadfast servant of the Lord expresses 
himself when he was about to be offered up. 
" I have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith : henceforth there 
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which 
the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at 
that day ; and not to me only, but unto all them 
also that love his appearing." So then you, O 
hearers ! may venture to die, the testimony of 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 55 

whose conscience is, that in simplicity and godly 
sincerity you have had your conversation in the 
world. You can even embrace death with joy 
and composure, knowing that you shall receive 
great good hereafter. 

3. Again, the nature of God's providential 
dealings with men in this life bespeaks a future 
judgment. It is plain that men are not always 
rewarded nor punished in this world as their 
actions deserve. The best men are often the 
most unfortunate and unsuccessful, while the 
greatest profligates are the most lucky and 
prosperous. The good and virtuous sometimes 
even fare the worse on account of their piety 
and integrity, and fall a prey. Their good deeds 
are misrepresented, themselves discountenanced, 
and their names cast out as evil. They are per- 
secuted by implacable enemies, robbed of their 
possessions, and pursued by a succession of ad- 
versities. Of this sorrowful fact, the church of 
God furnishes unnumbered examples. Thou- 
sands upon thousands of illustrious saints of 
whom the world was not worthy, have suffered 
from want and contempt, and from the cruel 
rage and violence of their fellow men. They 



56 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

"have had "trial of cruel mockings and scourg- 
ings; of bonds and imprisonment." They have 
been '■' stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain with 
the sword." They have been compelled to 
wander about "in sheepskins and goatskins," 
and to make their lodgings on "mountains, and 
in dens and caves of the earth." But, on the 
contrary, how astonishingly has wickedness often 
triumphed ! "What advantages have been gained 
by fraud and injustice ! How often has the 
sword of inhumanity forced the way to power 
and fame ! And what is most surprising of all, 
is, that many of those who by such unhallowed 
means acquire their earthly good, seem to enjoy 
it. This circumstance was observed by holy 
Job, for he says, "The wicked live and become 
old, and are mighty in power; their seed is 
established in their sight with them, and their 
offspring before their eyes. Their houses are 
safe from fear ; neither is the rod of God upon 
them." It not unfrequently happens that when 
the wicked have spent their days in vanity and 
transgression, they go down to the grave with 
no particular mark of God's displeasure resting 
upon them. 0, how loudly does not this call for 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 57 

a judgment after this life — a judgment in right- 
eousness and in truth ! Were it not for the 
belief and expectation of such an eyent to occur, 
Christians might often apply to themselves the 
distressing language of the Psalmist : " Verily, 
I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed 
my hands in innocence." But though virtue be 
neglected and despised, and vice applauded and 
triumph, and though God himself should seem 
for a time to connive at the wickedness of the 
wicked, while he severely tests the sincerity of 
his believing children, yet this will not always 
be the case. The cloud that now hovers over 
God's dealings in the affairs of his creatures here 
will once be removed. The book of eternity 
will one day be thrown open, and the whole in- 
telligent creation will at once see the difference 
between the righteous and the wicked, between 
"him that served God and him that served him 
not." God will not always appear to discoun- 
tenance his true servants, nor make his laws 
grievous to them. No, verily no ; but in an ac- 
ceptable time, he will favor such as have subdued 
their strongest passions, and renounced their 
fairest prospects of earthly gain and honor, in 



58 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

compliance with his most holy will. God would 
not have commanded us to mortify our sensual 
appetites and passions, and have enjoined upon 
us meekness, patience and a heavenly disposition 
and conversation, if he did not also intend to 
reward all who observe these things on the day 
of final retribution. 

4. Farther, the general consent of mankind 
favors a future judgment. The doctrine that 
there will be a time of final reckoning may be 
traced to the most remote ages, and it appears to 
have had a more general reception among the 
nations of the earth than any other doctrine, 
except the existence of a God. It is a truth 
that has not escaped the attention of any age or 
nation. The most ancient writers, whether poets 
or orators, historians or philosophers, made fre- 
quent allusions to it. The ancient heathen in 
general had such deep natural impressions of 
such an event to come, that they constantly 
acknowledged it in their ordinary intercourse 
with one another. If any happened to fall into 
adverse circumstances from which they could 
obtain no relief from their fellows, they would 
call God to witness their motives and actions, 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 59 

and would commend themselves, and their cause 
to him. Though they had but a very limited 
knowledge of the great Lord of heaven and 
earth, yet they could still believe that he took 
notice of all that transpired in this lower world, 
and that he would at some future time make 
plain to them what was now dark and mysteri- 
ous. And notwithstanding they were corrupted 
by vicious habits and adhered to false sj^stems of 
religion, still they could appeal to Grod as being 
their last Judge, and would declare their ex- 
pectation of a full and just recompense from 
him. Nor was this the case only with the more 
moral and enlightened classes among the heathen. 
The opinion of a future retribution, when com- 
plete justice will be done to all, appears to have 
pervaded the minds of men of all ranks and 
conditions in life, and of every mode of think- 
ing. For Lucian, who passes for a very loose 
writer as to morals and religion, has these re- 
markable words: "Grod brought man out of 
nothing to something, and is in heaven be- 
holding the just and the unjust, and is 
writing down in books every man's actions in 
order to recompense them according to their 



60 CEKTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

deeds, in the day which he hath appointed." 
And this doctrine is now generally acknowledg- 
ed among all the nations of the globe. Yes, 
the good Lord has taken care that this funda- 
mental truth should be deeply rooted in the 
human heart, and he has been equally careful 
that it should never be forgotten by any nation 
or in any age. 

5. But though the last judgment is an event 
that will most certainly come to pass, yet the 
time of its occurrence no mortal can ascertain. 
The Saviour himself, when alluding to that 
awful period, makes use of this remarkable 
language : " But of that day, and that hour 
knoweth no man ; no, not the angels which are 
in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.' 7 
Thus Grod has reserved the knowledge of that 
day to himself, and will not reveal it to any other. 
By not paying sufficient regard to these words 
of our Saviour, and from a misunderstanding of 
some expressions used by the Apostles, many 
persons in after ages went too far in their 
inquiries, and undertook to point out the precise 
time when the end of the world and the last judg- 
ment would occur. Lactantius, for example, 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 61 

asserted that there were not over two hundred 
years from the time he wrote and the end of the 
world. Origen and Tertullian, judging from 
these words of Paul : " Brethern, the time is short, 
it remains, that those that have wives be as 
though they had none," supposed that doomsday 
could not be far off. And Chrysostom, speaking 
of the age in which he lived, says : " This present 
time runs to an end, and the final resurrection 
is, as it were, at the door." When we come 
down to later times, we find Martin Luther 
expressing himself in this warm language: "I 
verily believe, that the angels are already up in 
arms, that they are putting on their harness, and 
girding their swords about them ; for the day of 
judgment draweth near, and two hundred years 
hence the voice will come and sound, ' Behold, 
the Bridegroom cometh.' " So you see, then, 
that men who upon most subjects were sober 
and judicious, have nevertheless expressed them- 
selves quite too positive upon this one for the 
Scripture warrant. There is no doubt but that 
an ardent desire that Christ would come, or that 
they might be delivered from the pressing cir- 
cumstances in which they were placed, induced 



62 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

many persons at different ages since the days of 
the Apostles, to assign an exact time for the 
fearful display of the Almighty's vengeance. 
Astronomy has also been made to bear upon 
this subject. Their are cases where comets have 
excited fears that the day of judgment was at 
hand, and that the comet was sent to burn up 
the world. In 1773, M. Delande, of Paris, an- 
nounced to the Academy of Science that there 
was great danger of the comet which was soon 
to appear, striking the earth. It is said in conse- 
quence of this announcement, when the comet 
appeared, many persons of weak minds died of 
fright. But the unsuccessfulness of their con 
jectures ought to satisfy us, that He who ap- 
pointed this day, has also for wise reasons hid it 
from the knowledge and penetration of all men. 
Let us not, therefore, attempt to pry too deeply 
into that which the Lord himself has designedly 
concealed from us, so as to presume that we have 
found out the precise time when the judgment 
of the world will take place. The Lord will not 
reveal the knowledge of that day to any of the 
children of men till it has come. And in this 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 63 

we may see the wisdom and goodness of God 
for it is quite evident that a perfect knowledge 
of the day and hour of the last judgment would 
be attended with the most certain and extensive 
mischief. "Weak mortals, if they knew that day 
to be far distant in the future, they would live 
in security and carelessness ; whilst if they knew 
it to be very near, even at the door, they would 
be stupefied with horror and amazement. But 
the merciful God by making manifest its cer- 
tainty, but not revealing the time of its occur- 
rence, has made it a standing test of man's faith 
in every generation while the world lasts. We 
cannot tell but that before the sun which has 
arisen shall go down, the Almighty Judge may 
descend ; and on account of this uncertainty we 
are induced to live continually in watchfulness 
and prayer, and so in a state of preparation. It 
is enough for us to know that the Lord will 
come, and that, too, in all his power and glory, 
though we know not the day nor the hour of 
his coming. His coming we are assured will be 
suddenly, unexpectedly, and like a thief in the 
night. The generation that will be alive on the 



64: CERTAINTY AXD EXTENT OF 

earth, when he shall reveal himself from heaven 
with his mighty angels, will be as much sur- 
prised at the destruction of the world by fire, 
as the generation in the days of Noah was at its 
overthrow by water. The people will be eating 
and drinking, revelling in excesses and riotings ; 
they will be buying and selling, projecting great 
schemes and grasping at power; they will be 
eagerly absorbed in the cares, the pursuits and 
the pleasures of the world. But when they cry 
peace and safety, and promise themselves large 
incomes from their undertakings, and imagine 
their prosperity to be permanent, then, as in a 
moment, the fatal day shall rush in upon them 
unawares, and overwhelm them with swift and 
irretrievable ruin. O! how vain then will 
appear all that is now regarded as great, grand, 
and valuable. Who now will point to the monu- 
ments and pillars of fame, read their inscriptions, 
and tell the names of those they commemorated? 
Alas ! alas ! all the pleasures of man, and all his 
works of art, as well as the everlasting hills and 
mountains, together with this whole fabric oT 
Nature, shall be dissolved and swallowed up in 
one vast blazing ocean of liquid fire. 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 65 

The wicked will then be without a protection ! 
The great day of the wrath of the Lamb will 
have come, and they cannot stand. They can 
no more escape the overwhelming terrors of the 
lake of fire, than the antediluvians could escape 
the rising waters of the deluge. It will then be 
too late to repent ; regret will be without avail. 
In vain will the condemned multitudes strive to 
fly from the devouring element as it rolls its 
flood of fire around the world! and how sad 
their condition when the searching flames 
enter their last shelters and envelopes them 
all! 

But we proceed to notice, 

II. That the last Judgment will embrace the 
whole human race. 

This important truth is made plain in several 
portions of the sacred Scriptures. In the text 
we are told, that " the world " shall be judged 
And Paul in his Epistle to the Eomans, says 
" We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of 
Christ." In the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew 



b6 CEKTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

it is written, "Before him," that is, Christ, "shall 
be gathered all nations." "We are also informed 
that the sea shall deliver up its dead, and the 
grave and hell shall deliver up their dead, 
and that the living inhabitants that may be 
upon the earth in the day of Christ's coming, 
must all appear before him in judgment. 
No, from the Bar of universal judgment, none 
of the sons or daughters of Adam will be 
excused, no difference how high or low, rich 
or poor they may have been. No proxies or 
representatives will be allowed there, but every 
one shall have to appear in his own true person, 
and receive " according to what he has done, 
whether it be good or bad." 

1. The rich and the great men of the earth 
will be seen in the judgment. These, perhaps, 
of all orders or classes of persons, think least 
of a day of final retribution. They are often 
flattered and extolled by those around them, 
as if they were so many little gods, and a 
marked distinction is made between them and 
the rest of mankind. This special regard 
shown them is apt to puff* them up with 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 67 

pride and vanity, and they are induced to 
look down with contempt upon all beneath 
them. And as they see that courts of judica-t 
ture sometimes show deference to certain cha- 
racters; they are vain enough to imagine that 
God himself will on the day of judgment look 
favorably upon them, as the high and mighty 
of their race. They imagine that if they 
are judged at all, it will not be with the same 
rigor and severity with which others will be 
judged. They think God will regard their 
rank, wink at their faults, and excuse any 
want of conformity to laws enacted for general 
observance. But O! how vain are all such 
hopes. "What folly to presume that the great 
God will show deference to worldly greatness, 
when he comes to judge the world in right- 
eousness and the people with his truth! 
Wealth, rank, and station may indeed have 
their influence among erring mortals, and the 
higher orders of men may not fear to correct 
and judge the faults of those under their 
power and influence; but of what advantage 
can this be to any when the Almighty Judge 



68 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

himself shall take the seat of justice, between 
whom and the greatest earthly monarch there 
is an infinitely greater distance than between 
the latter and the most humble subject of his 
kingdom? And if God spared not those 
powerful beings, "the angels that sinned, but 
cast them down to hell, and delivered them in 
chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judg- 
ment," what assurance can any derive from 
worldly honors or distinctions, that they shall 
be excused or passed by on that day which is 
to try the hearts of all men ? 

Besides, the wealthy and the distinguished of 
the earth are exposed to all the changes and 
accidents to which others are subject. Pain 
and sickness seize them, and death fears them 
no more than he does the beggar. The gods of 
earth die like meu ; and when a little more 
funeral pomp than ordinary is shown them, they 
are laid in the grave, and left there to be de- 
voured by worms. And is this creature too 
lofty or powerful to be judged ? Alas ! for poor 
weak humanity ! Naked and unarmed the most 
powerful step into eternity ; and when they are 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 69 

gone, all take the liberty of freely expressing 
their opinion of them, and of arraigning their 
lives and actions. And it seems but just and 
reasonable, and in accordance with the Scrip- 
tures, that such shall have even a more grievous 
condemnation than others; because of those 
higher powers and greater opportunities which 
they possessed, and which were designed by 
their Creator to be to them more ample means 
of doing good, but which they only neglected, 
misused, or abused. A sharp judgment will no 
doubt be the portion of many who were in high 
offices and in favorable circumstances here 
below. O ! how many will be compelled, on 
the great day of trial, to say the riches which 
we squandered in superb edifices, and costly 
apparel; in many attendants, and worldly 
grandeur, have at last only proved to us the 
means of our eternal damnation! O ! had we 
but spent our superfluous wealth and our leisure, 
but dissipated time, in clothing the naked and 
feeding the hungry, and in visiting the sick, 
and in attending to the various amiable duties 
enjoined upon us, we might now have opened 



70 CEKTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

to ns a passage in the heavenly land. Yes, the 
avaricious may have hoarded their splendid for- 
tunes, and the ambitions may have gathered 
their laurels, but that which once seemed a 
mighty good and a lofty pre-eminence, shall 
now turn to their everlasting shame and con- 
tempt. 

2. But the poor, and the ignorant, and 
despised must not presume that they will be 
excused from appearing in judgment; upon the 
ground that little or nothing was committed to 
them. These, of course, will not be examined 
concerning riches, talents, and honors, which 
they had not; still, they may be required to 
give an account of the manner they bore their 
poverty. The Judge may say to them, " And 
what effect had your condition upon you ? Did 
it make you thankful for the blessings and 
benefits of life? "Were you humble, and 
modest, and patient in want and suffering, and 
content with little ? Were you submissive to 
the will of your Heavenly Father, and had you 
a cheerful dependence on Divine Providence for 
your daily bread?" For it should be remem- 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 71 

bered that all mankind are equally God's re- 
sponsible creatures, however diversified they 
may be in their temporal circumstances ; and 
that justice requires that he should show no 
favor or partiality to one class or order of per- 
sons more than to another. He made both the 
great and the small, and he cares for all alike. 
And as he will not favor the rich and honora- 
ble, simply because they are such, so neither 
will he show favor to the poor and despised, 
merely because this is their case. But he will 
deal out strict and full justice to all and every 
individual of the race of Adam, irrespective of 
any such worldly considerations. 

Now, it is the disposition of some to charge 
God with showing partiality in his dealings with 
men in this life. This partiality they think 
they see in men's different stations and fortunes, 
but more especially in their different religious 
advantages and privileges. It is contended that 
God has not been careful to give all his rational 
creatures an equal chance of knowing their 
duties. It is contended that he has given to some 
portions of the human race a knowledge of the 



72 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

danger of sin and the beauty of holiness, and 
the certainty of future rewards and punish- 
ments, whilst he has left the rest of mankind in 
darkness and ignorance in regard to these 
important things. There are, we admit, diffi- 
culties connected with the diversified religious 
condition of the world which cannot be made 
plain to all minds, and which, perhaps, cannot 
be fully explained or comprehended. But of 
this fact we may be certain, that God would not 
sumfrion the whole human race before the Judg- 
ment Seat of Christ, if he did not also intend 
to deal impartially with all, and convince all, 
before he passes sentence upon them, and dis- 
misses them to their respective abodes, that full 
justice has been done them. We cannot tell 
by what method God will proceed in distributing 
justice so as to equalize all ; but we do know 
that it cannot be difficult for this all-wise Being 
to mete out exact justice to every member of 
the human family. It seems highly probable 
that God will grade the rewards and punish- 
ments according to the light and advantages 
which men had here, and so according to their 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 73 

opportunities of doing good. In this way, that 
servant that knew his Master's will, bat did 
contrary to it, shall be beaten with many 
stripes ; while he that knew not, but did things 
deserving stripes, shall be beaten with few. To 
whom the Lord has given little, he will ask 
little; to whom he has given much, he will 
require much; and to whom he has committed 
most, he will demand the most. 

3. A very interesting thought remains here; 
and that is, that all the generations that have 
existed from the beginning of the world will be 
assembled together in judgment at one place, 
and at the same time, and will be judged in 
company. By this arrangement, the virtuous, 
and the good, and holy, will be made the more 
conspicuous ; while the impure, the wicked, and 
the ungodly will be the more exposed, and 
consequently will be struck with the greater 
confusion and astonishment. Many of the 
noble deeds of the godly are done in secret; 
they are hid from the eyes of all men, and are 
known to God only; while their good deeds, 
that are public, are often ascribed to an artful 



74 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

disguise to conceal some latent dishonesty, and 
themselves treated as the filth and offscouring 
of all things. It is highly necessary that God 
should vindicate the conduct of those who have 
done well, and have suffered reproach and 
infamy for his name's sake. And what a glo- 
rious vindication it will be ! How pleasing to 
the righteous ! For what, my Christian friends, 
could afford us so much pleasure as to have our 
charity and our integrity, our tears, prayers, 
and penitential mournings, highly commended 
and publicly rewarded in the general assembly 
of men and angels ! O ! will not this be an 
ample compensation for all we have suffered for 
the honor and glory of our Divine Master, and 
for the spread of truth and righteousness in the 
earth ! 

But, on the contrary, many of the sinful 
deeds of the ungodly are done in secret, and 
remain concealed from all except from God 
himself. Wickedness, too, sometimes puts on 
the open shameless face of Infidelity and Liber- 
tinism; and sometimes it wears the garb of 
religion. But whatever may be its character or 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 75 

form, it will once be completely exposed. The 
light of the Judgment Day will penetrate all 
the works of darkness, all the recluses of 
subtlety, and all the disguises of hypocrisy, and 
the sinner and the ungodly shall stand forth 
unmasked, and utterly confounded. O, how 
will they appear when the secret sins of their 
whole lives, and all their evil doings, shall be 
made manifest to an assembled world, and 
themselves exposed to public scorn and censure ! 
How will they feel when their admirers and 
companions, who were ungodly like themselves, 
shall stand tremblingly by their side, and, 
instead of being a consolation, shall only add 
to their already insupportable grief! For it 
seems highly probable that all who were in any 
wise concerned with one another here will there 
be arraigned in sight of one another ; so that 
all who have favored and reformed, or corrupted 
and slandered one another, will then be brought 
to a re-acquaintance. What a meeting will this 
be! How will the unjust judge be abashed, 
when confronted by those innocent and helpless 
ones against whom he unfeelingly gave sen- 



76 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

tence! How will the proud oppressor turn pale 
when lie sees the poor and ignorant whom he 
harrassed out of their just dues, and all whom 
he defrauded or burdened! What an unwel- 
come meeting will those hare who were com- 
panions "in rioting and drunkeness,in chambering 
and wantonness, in strifes and envyings !" 
And, ! how will those meet one another 
who were combined in public acts of violence, 
who laid waste countries, and sacrificed cities, 
to gratify their ambition and revenge ! Behold 
the greetings of the Alexanders, the Caesars, 
and the Napoleons, as they come forth stripped 
of every distinction but that of having been the 
greatest murderers of their age and nation! 
How they curse the madness of their ambition, 
as thousands of murdered men, women, and 
children crowd around the Throne, and cry for 
vengeance against them! 0, what a host 
will all the different orders of self- condemned 
wretches make, and all trembling in fearful 
anticipation of the sentence to unending misery 
and woe ! What one among them all would 
not most gladly exchange his condition for that 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 77 

of the poorest beggar in the assembly of the 
just! 

But how delightful is the gathering together 
of the saints of the Most High ! How lovely 
and cheerfully they appear! How pleased to 
see one another again ! How sweet their con- 
versation! How glad they are to see those 
come around them whom they relieved when in 
want, or reclaimed from error, or rescued from 
oppression, or defended against slanders and 
reproaches ! 0, glorious company ! for here are 
Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, Martyrs and 
Reformers, and the godly from every land and 
sea. They look upon the Saviour, and see his 
smile, and hear his greeting. And, ! with 
what complacency the Divine Saviour beholds, 
from his cloudy white Throne, this vast congre- 
gation of the just ! Pointing to them, he says : 
"There is the burden of my soul; there the 
redemption of my blood." Would you, my 
readers, be found in this blessed assembly? 
Remember you must one day stand among 
assembled myriads ; and if you receive not the 
welcome invitation from the Judge of all the 



78 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

eartli ; " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
the kingdom prepared for you," you must abide 
the sentence, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into 
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
angels !" 0, how dreadful will that day be to 
all of you who are not found clothed with the 
robe of the Bedeemer's righteousness ! 

III. The last Judgment ivill weigh and scru- 
tinize man's whole moral character, and sentence 
will he passed according as it shall be proved to 
have been good or bad. 

1. The judgment will extend to the thoughts 
and motives of the heart. "In that day," says 
Paul, " Grod will judge the secrets of men by 
Jesus Christ." It is also written that, when the 
Lord shall come, he "will make manifest the 
counsels of the heart." And just as a man's 
thoughts and intentions are good or bad, so 
also is the character of the actions which pro- 
ceed from them. For the same act in appear- 
ance, proceeding from different prospects, and 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 79 

springing from different principles, is, by no 
means, the same in a moral sense. Take an 
illustration of this fact. Suppose two men 
give alms, the one from a feeling of benevo- 
lence, the other from a desire of worldly ap- 
plause; and that they both pray, the one out 
of love to God and his kingdom, the other to 
be seen of men. Now here both do the same 
things, but from entirely different motives, and 
so they do not meet with the same acceptance 
and success from God. He that does these 
things upon worldly principles, has, as our 
Lord tells us, his reward already. He did 
these things to be seen and applauded by men. 
This favor he receives, and this is his recom- 
pense. He is paid in the coin which he de- 
sired, and has therefore no claim to any farther 
wages. But it is quite different with him who 
performs these duties out of a pure conscience, 
and to approve his love and obedience to God. 
For this man there is a reward in the future, 
so that whether he receive a benefit now or 
not, still he will be greatly the gainer in the 
end. The man also who desires to do good, 



80 CEKTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

but is hindered or prevented; or lacks the op- 
portunity of effecting his object, shall not lose 
his reward. Consider too before whom it is 
that you must appear in judgment. It is be- 
fore that allwise God who sees our thoughts, 
and motives; and looks into our hearts, and 
understands all our imaginations. You must 
appear before Him who will examine the secret 
springs of your actions, and upon which their 
nature as good or evil depends. How serious 
this truth in view of eternity ! 

2. At the last judgment, men's words will 
be considered. Jude tells us that Enoch, the 
seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying: " Be- 
hold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of 
his saints, to execute judgment upon all; and 
to convince all that are ungodly among them 
of all their ungodly deeds which they have 
ungodily committed, and of all their hard 
speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken 
against him." Words are the first and the most 
natural indications of the temper and disposi- 
tion of the mind; and evil communications of 
all kinds corrupt good manners, and some eat 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 81 

like a canker, and prey upon the very vitals 
of religion. The tongue, though a little mem- 
ber, defiles the whole body; raises great con- 
fusion and disturbances in neighborhoods; sets 
on fire, a§ it were, the course of nature, and is 
itself set on fire of hell. 0! how greatly do 
those delude themselves who imagine that their 
filthy conversations and rash oaths, their atheis- 
tical discourses upon God, and profane jests 
upon the Scriptures, and their lies and mali- 
cious remarks and slanders of good men, shall 
all pass unnoticed and unrebuked at the Bar 
of infinite holiness, justice, and truth. Has 
not the invincible Judge himself declared, that 
"for every idle word that men shall speak, 
they must give an account thereof in the day 
of judgment?" Bridle your tongues, there- 
fore, and ponder well the words that go forth 
from your lips. For these will tend either to 
justify you, or to condemn you in the end. 

3. At the judgment the erroneous doctrines 
and false principles which men taught and in- 
fused into their fellow-men will be examined, 
and those who advocated them pimished. The 



82 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

Saviour denonnced woes against the Scribes 
and Pharisees on account of their pernicious 
doctrines. Hear his language : " Woe unto 
you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye 
shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, 
for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer 
ye them that are entering, to go in. Ye com- 
pass sea and land to make one proselyte ; and 
when he is made, ye make him twofold more 
the child of hell than yourselves." And the 
Apostle Peter tells us of some, who, in the 
earliest days of Christianity, introduced " dam- 
nable heresies, even denying the Lord that 
bought them;" and who by thus alluring in- 
cautious souls into their pernicious ways, caused 
the a way of truth to be evil spoken of." But 
how terrible must be the doom of all such, 
since this same Apostle says of them : " Their 
judgment now of a long time linger eth not, 
and their damnation slumbereth not." These 
denunciations, it is true, allude chiefly to those 
engaged in gaining proselytes to infidelity, 
still they are applicable to teachers of false and 
wicked principles of every kind. It shall go 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 83 

ill with those who teach doctrines that weaken 
the obligations to obey God's laws ; by repre- 
senting good actions as not necessary, and bad 
actions as not absolutely sinful. It shall go ill 
with those who weaken the motives to holiness 
by representing the glory of heaven as not 
so great, and the torments of hell as not so 
grievous as the Spirit of God in the gospel has 
pronounced them. In short, all who teach any 
doctrine that tends to the corruption of the 
hearts and manners of men, make themselves 
participants in the guilt of those who are 
thereby injured and destroyed, and must also 
be sharers with them in future pain and misery. 
O that all errorists and false teachers would 
ponder well this solemn truth ! 

4. Those persons have reason to fear the 
judgment who draw their fellows into sin, 
by evil counsel or advice. How severe was 
that law which Jehovah gave the Jews, for the 
punishment of such as thus drew off their 
brethren from the worship of himself to that 
of idols. To such no pity was to be shown. 
But it is a great crime to allure men into any 



84 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

sin, since the practice of any sin may effectually 
destroy the soul. And all sin draws men from 
the love of God to the love of the creature. 
Beware, my hearers, of bad counsels ! Neither 
give nor receive them. They are the traffic 
on the broad road to ruin. If any of you are 
in this way leading others astray ; I warn you ! 
Kemember, you are seducers, and that you 
have reason to tremble ; for the weight of your 
condemnation will be the more grievous be- 
cause of the mischief which your evil instiga- 
tions have caused. 

5. In the judgment, the examples which 
men exhibited here will be examined, and a 
sore trial shall all those have whose example 
was bad. Human beings are apt to be swayed 
by example. We learn to live and act, as well 
as to speak and write by imitation. From this 
proneness in human nature to imitate, thou- 
sands and millions are infected by bad exam- 
ples. And it is plaiu that those setting such 
examples, are answerable not only for their 
own personal sins, but also, in a great measure, 
for those sins which they thus encourage others 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 85 

to commit. How careful should Christians be, 
lest by improper conduct they induce some 
to transgress! How guarded should they be, 
that their example prove not the occasion of 
sin to any! The Apostle Paul cautions be- 
lievers against taking liberties that might cause 
them to become a stumbling block to those 
that are weak in the faith. He tells them that 
if they sin so against the brethren, and wound 
their weak conscience, they sin ag linst Christ. 
Now, if such deserve to be punished, how much 
more do those who make themselves a public 
occasion of sin, by doing acts and indulging in 
practices that appear sinful to all, and which 
are in themselves the works of Satan and of 
hell? 

6. In the judgment, those who refused to 
give wholesome instruction to such as were 
placed under their care, will be punished. Pa- 
rents in particular will be held accountable in 
that day, if they have neglected this important 
duty. All who can, are required by the Scrip- 
tures to teach their children, and others in- 
trusted to their care or rearing, a knowledge 



86 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

of God and the way of salvation through Jesus 
Christ. And if those are guilty who refuse to 
supply the temporal wants of their households, 
in what light are we to regard such as refuse 
to supply their spiritual necessities ? Are there 
any of you chargeable with this sin? Con- 
sider how it will go with you and your families 
at the Bar of Grod. How many children will 
rise up in the last day, and condemn their 
parents for the neglect of this duty ! how 
many in that day will say to their parents, 
and to others who had charge of them — Had 
you been as careful to teach us the good know- 
ledge of the Lord as we were able to learn it ; 
had you been as ready to instruct us in any 
duty as we were ready to listen to it, it would 
not be with us now as it is : we would now be 
in a state of salvation, and not standing here 
trembling in fearful expectation of our impend- 
ing doom. 

Thus we have briefly brought to your notice 
the solemnities of the last Judgment. "We have 
proved that it is an event that will most cer- 
tainly take place, because the mouth of the 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 87 

Lord hath spoken it ; and that we know neither 
the day nor the hour when it shall occur. We 
have shown yon that it is a truth confirmed by 
the general consent of mankind, by the nature 
of God's providential dealings with men in this 
life ; and by the testimony of our own con- 
sciences. We have shown you that the whole 
human race, of all generations; from the begin- 
ning of the world to its end ; must appear 
before the Lord in Judgment; that none will 
be excused; no difference what may be their 
condition or circumstances in life, but that all 
must then give an account for the deeds done 
in the body. We have shown you that this 
Judgment will extend to man's whole moral 
character; to his thoughts and motives, his 
words and counsels, his example, and to his 
teachings or neglect of duty in this respect. 

Suppose now that this day of Judgment had 
come, with its thousand terrors. Suppose that 
you saw nature dissolving in agonies ; the world 
in flames; and heard the sound of the Arch- 
angel's trumpet ; and saw the glory of God 
displayed in the person of Christ and the 



88 CEKTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

armies of his angels. Suppose you heard the 
roaring of the sea ; and saw the convulsions of 
the earth ; and the falling of rocks and moun- 
tains; that you saw dreadful flashes of light- 
ning and heard volleys of thunder; and that 
you heard the shrieks and howlings of devils 
and distressed sinners from every quarter. 
Suppose, my hearers, that these things were 
actually transpiring before your eyes, would 
you not all be convinced of the reasonableness 
and great importance of being in a state of 
preparation to meet the Lord ? O, then, strive 
to walk humbly, and justly, and godly, that 
when Christ shall come to take vengeance on 
his enemies, you may not appear among them, 
but be numbered with his saints, and may par- 
take of everlasting life ! 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 89 



PRAYER. 

; Thou high, and mighty God of eternity! 
we appear in thy presence with reverence and 
godly fear. Thou art the Father of men and 
angels, and in thy power is the destiny of every 
living thing. Thou doest according to thy 
good pleasure in the armies of heaven and 
among the inhabitants of the earth. None can 
stay thy arm, or say unto Thee, what doest 
Thou, or why dost Thou thus? Before Thee 
the dwellers on earth are but as creatures of a 
moment. One generation after another passeth 
away, and we are hastening to the grave and 
to thy Bar. The heavens will once be no 
more, and the earth and all things therein shall 
be dissolved. But amid the revolutions of 
time and the perishing of worlds, Thou re- 
mainest the same great God, in all thy power ; 



90 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

wisdom, and justice. Great and marvellous are 
thy works, Lord God Almighty ! just and true 
are all thy ways ; thou King of saints ! 

Thou hast been pleased to reveal Thyself to 
the rebellious race of man, as the Lord merciful 
and gracious, slow to anger, forgiving sin and 
transgression; but who will in no wise clear 
the guilty. We rejoice that thou hast been 
pleased to transact all thy concerns with us 
through a Mediator, Jesus Christ, the right- 
eous. On Him Thou hast laid the iniquity of 
us all, that by his stripes we may be healed. 
how amazing thy goodness in thus conde- 
scending to visit us, and to be mindful of our 
wants ! 

Of ourselves we can do nothing. We be- 
seech Thee, therefore, give us thy Holy Spirit. 
Cleanse our hearts from all impurity, and 
guide our conduct and conversation aright. 
We ask Thee not to enrol our names with the 
rich and great of the earth, who have their 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 91 

portion in this iife, but that Thou wouldst 
number us with thy saints in glory. "We would 
not mourn nor repine at thy dispensations, if 
all our wants are not satisfied, but we would 
ask for grace that we may be content in every 
condition and circumstance of life in which we 
may be placed, and be concerned to glorify 
Thee with our bodies and spirits, which are 
thine. And, grant that none of our mercies 
may be lost upon us ; but that they may prove 
the means of exciting our gratitude, warming 
our devotion, and encouraging our confidence 
in divine things. May none of our trials and 
afflictions be unimproved, but may they em- 
bitter sin, wean us from this present evil world, 
endear to us the Scriptures, the Throne of 
Grace, and the sympathy of that Almighty 
friend who is touched with the feeling of our 
infirmities, and who is ever ready to succor 
them that believe in Him. 

We know not what a day may bring forth, 



92 CERTAINTY AND EXTENT OF 

nor would we, if we could, draw back the veil 
that hides the future, and learn the times and 
seasons which the Father hath kept in his own 
mind. Only be Thou with us, and prepare us 
for all that awaits us. Prepare us for those 
losses and bereavements, so certain and so un- 
avoidable in a world like this. Prepare us for 
the days of darkness, for they may be many, 
and be with us in the valley and shadow of 
death. And, 0, prepare us for that solemn day 
when Thou shalt judge the world ia righteous- 
ness by thine own Son. May we tremble at 
the thought of appearing before Thee in judg- 
ment, if we have neglected or despised thy 
dear Son, and resisted the influence of the Holy 
Spirit. 0, may we all believe on him as a 
Saviour, before we shall stand before Him as 
a Judge ; that when the tribes of the earth shall 
wail because of Him, we may lift up our heads 
with joy, knowing that our complete redemp- 
tion draweth nigh. that we may then be 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 93 

able to say, with, all thy believing people, Lo ! 
this is our God ; we have waited for Him, and 
we will rejoice and be glad, for he will save us. 
But, 0, are there not many, Lord, whom 
this day shall overtake unawares? What 
numbers despise thy ways, and will not have 
thee to reign over them! What multitudes 
are absorbed in the pursuits, the pleasures, and 
the cares of the world, to the neglect of their 
souls and eternity ! Thou seest how many are 
blasphemers and persecutors, wilfully and mali- 
ciously the children of disobedience and trans- 
gression. And Thou seest how many have the 
form of godliness, but are too hardened to feel 
its power. O shall these forever remain in 
this lost estate! Must they only continue to 
increase their guilt and aggravate their con- 
demnation, so that it shall be more tolerable 
for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judg- 
ment than for them! Must they at last hear 
from the Judge of all the earth the fearful sen- 



94 CEKTAINTY AND EXTENT, ETC. 

tence, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into ever- 
lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
angels!" Must they forever take up their 
abode in that world of woe and pain, where 
there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of 
teeth! when they shall have seen Abraham, 
Isaac, and Jacob, and all the righteous, and 
among them their nearest and best kindred, 
go into the kingdom of heaven. O, Lord God, 
Thou knowest, for thou knowest all things, 
and Thou wilt do that which is right in thine 
own eyes, and which will be right in the eyes 
of all people. Amen. 



THE END. 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLOEY. 



Eye "hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the 
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them 
that love Him. — 1 Corinthians ii. 9. 

These words were spoken of Heaven. The 
Apostle Paul ; who was favored with, a view 
and inspection of the upper world, informs us 
here that it is altogether too grand and beau- 
tiful for either the language of man to describe, 
or the mind of man to conceive. To give a 
complete account of its transcendent excellen- 
cies would, no doubt, be a task for the most 
exalted seraph that comes into the presence of 
the Most High God. And because of its re- 
moteness and the difficulty of the way to it, 
all who would enter it must first pass through 
several very essential and important changes. 
The character and condition however of that 
glorious world, and the manner in which it 
shall become ours, are plainly revealed in the 
Sacred Scriptures for our comfort and support 



96 HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 

in this life, and to indp.ce and encourage us to 
seek and secure it as our own hereafter. 

We have in the Word of God frequent repre- 
sentations of the heavenly world. These give 
us as full an insight into its joys as is needful 
or best for us now. They show us that all the 
satisfaction to be derived from the greatest 
plenty, the most exquisite beauty, and the most 
complete grandeur and highest honor of which 
we can conceive, will not only be equaled but 
infinitely exceeded in the enjoyment of that 
happy future state of the righteous. The great 
number and variety of expressions used by the 
inspired writers to portray the jpys of that 
better world, indicate that every kind of happi- 
ness of which we shall be capable, will be expe- 
rienced by us hereafter in the highest perfec- 
tion,, if we prove faithful. 

In continuing our remarks upon this very 
delightful subject, we observe, 

I. That Heaven is the world of the greatest 
glory and happiness. 

1. This mis;ht be inferred from its location. 
That boundless world is situated far beyond 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 97 

the starry firmament visible to our eyes, and 
on account of its vast distance and lofty posi- 
tion, it is called the third heaven ; and ; some- 
times, the heaven of heavens. It is so far 
removed beyond the mists and shadows of all 
other worlds, that it is particularly the region 
of light. It does not derive its light from the 
sun, or moon, or stars, or any created light, 
but directly from God himself. There are such 
scenes of beauty and grandeur as are nowhere 
else met with ; there every thing abounds that 
can delight, and charm, and please; and there 
the air is pure and light. Hence it is dignified 
with the title, the Paradise of God. 

That too is the world which God the Father 
honors with his more immediate presence, 
and there his glory shines most conspicuously. 
There Christ the Son, who is over all princi- 
palities, and powers, and dominions, has his 
residence, and unfolds his peerless excellencies. 
There the Holy Ghost dwells — he by whose 
power and agency we become, in a new and 
endearing relation, the sons and daughters of 
the Lord. There is the home of the angels 



98 HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 

that fell not ; and to that bright world Enoch 
and Elijah have long since been translated . 

2. That there is such a world as this in the 
universe of God, and where the righteous are 
recompensed with uninterrupted joy and happi- 
ness when they leave the world, has been very 
generally believed throughout all past times. 
This has been the belief not only of Jews and 
Christians, but of heathens also. The ancient 
heathen wrote of Elysian fields, by which they 
signified the future abodes of the departed just, 
and to these they ascribe every thing that could 
contribute to make them the most agreeable 
entertainment, and every thing that cold excite 
in the mind of their countrymen the most eager 
desire of reaching and possessing them. Plato, 
the Grecian philosopher, affirmed that a the good 
and virtuous, after this life, go to the islands of the 
blessed, where they enjoy all happiness, and are 
treed from all evil." Cicero, the Eoman orator, 
declares that "the soul after death fixes herself, 
in her ascent, in the Empyrean orb, where she 
wants nothing, but is sustained by the food with 
which the stars are nourished ; and from thence 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLOKY. 99 

at one view, she surveys the whole world and 
all that is contained in it. 

But much that the heathen wrote, and wrote 
elegantly, of the future abode and state of the 
righteous, yet have they transmitted nothing to 
us that can compare with what the Holy Scrip, 
tures say upon the subject. Take for, instance 
the description which John gives of the New 
Jerusalem. It stands absolutely unparalleled. 
This lonely seer being permitted to see the Holy 
City, thus speaks of it: — "The building of the 
wall of it was of jasper, and the city was pure 
gold, like unto clear glass. And the founda- 
tions of the wall of the city were garnished 
with all manner of precious stones. And the 
twelve gates were twelve pearls ; every several 
gate was one pearl, and the street of the city 
was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of 
^he moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God 
did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." 
Besides this, he tells us that he saw there the 
throne of God, the river of life, whose water 
was clear as crystal, and the tree of life which 
bore twelve different kinds of fruit, and yielded 



100 HEAVEN AND ITS GLOEY. 

its fruit every month; and that he saw its re- 
deemed and happy inhabitants arrayed in white 
garments, with palms in their hands and crowns 
on their heads, and that among all the vast mul- 
titude there was no sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, 
nor death, nor any curse, All this gives to that 
world such a complete fullness, and beauty, and 
magnificence as we may well suppose to be the 
condition and character of the supreme Heaven. 
Only lift up your eyes and take a veiw of our 
nightly firmament, and what do you see ? In- 
numerable orbs of different sizes and brightness 
dispersed in the vast expanse, and yet what are 
all these but so many outworks and scaffolds of 
that still infinitely more glorious city and region 
elevated far above them all. Well might the 
apostle exclaim in the text, "Eye hath not seen, 
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the 
heart of man, the things which God hath pre- 
pared for them that love Him." We have seen 
much that is grand and beautiful in the works 
of creation around us, but we have never looked 
into Heaven, we have been charmed by very 
harmonious sounds, but we have never listened 
to the anthems above ; and we are capable o 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 101 

conceiving mountains of crystal, and rocks of 
diamonds ; we can conceive of every star being 
enlarged to a sun, and every such sun made ten 
thousand times more splendid than this world, 
but we have never been able to conceive the 
excellencies of that high and all-glorious world 
which our God has fitted up as the future abode 
and final resting-place of all the righteous. O ! 
should we not stretch every nerve that we may 
at last be counted worthy to share in so great a 
blessedness ? 

3. But farther, the intellectual exercises of 
the heavenly inhabitants will be of a nature 
calculated to increase their happiness. Should 
we be so fortunate as to arrive there, we shall 
find our minds quickly and freely exercised 
upon the most pleasing and noble objects. There 
we shall be much given to contemplation, and 
shall continually attain to higher knowledge. 
We shall never be making fresh discoveries in 
the works and plans of the great Eternal. There 
too our apprehensions of things will be greatly 
quickened, so that we shall learn without the 
labor of study, and see the connection and de- 
pendencies of things without the least difficulty 



102 HEAVED AND ITS GLORY. 

or perplexity of mind. How wise then will 
those become who are taught upon those Heav- 
enly heights ! 

There too we shall see God. And if we derive 
so great a satisfaction from the imperfect discov- 
ery we have of his character here, only imagine 
what will be the joy and triumphs of our souls 
when we shall be permitted to see him no more 
through " a glass darkly, but face to face." Then 
shall we have a full and clear view of that 
blessed God, whose very presence makes Heaven 
the delight it is. There we shall have new 
proofs of his unspeakable love to us. And we 
shall see in him all that is lovely, and love all 
we see, and profess all we love. This will be 
our happy privilege, and that of all Heaven's 
ransomed population. The infinite God will 
be ever manifesting himself to us, and there 
will be no sin within us or about us to direct 
our attention from him and his marvelous 
doings. We will be continually copying his 
perfections, adoring his excellencies, and most 
cheerfully breathing forth his praises and halle- 
lujahs. In all this we will experience the very 
greatest pleasure and satisfaction, because it 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 103 

will be most natural and easy to us. ! who 
would not wish to be so employed around the 
throne of the great I AM, in the regions of the 
living, and where the light of his countenance 
shines perpetually. 

4. Once more. The society of Heaven will 
be of the most agreeable kind. There we shall 
be introduced to the innumerable company of 
angels. Those pure and spotless beings en- 
dowed with vast knowledge and power, will 
welcome us to their blissful abode, and to a 
participation in their many joys. We will be 
permitted to hold conversations with them, and 
to become their intimate friends, and they will 
call us brethren. There too we shall see Jesus, 
and talk familiarly with him. That blessed 
Jesus, who was so cruelly treated while on 
earth, will show us his lovely face, and own 
and claim us as his forever. Most gladly will 
he narrate to us the wonders of his love, and 
the many woeful stages through which he 
passed to rescue us from danger and misery, 
and bring to glory and happiness. Our hearts, 
in the meantime, will burn with love, and our 
mouths overflow with praise and thanksgiving 



104 HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 

to him. Still more. There we shall become 
companions with patriarchs, prophets, and apos- 
tles, with martyrs and reformers, and with all 
those excellent of the earth, who from the be- 
ginning of the world, have, by their examples 
and efforts, recommended themselves to their 
race and generation. Yes, we shall join with 
all the heavenly host in ascribing " blessing, 
and honor, and power, and riches, and wisdom, 
and glory unto Him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and to the Lamb forever and ever." 
O what a blessed society this, where "holiness 
to the Lord" is inscribed on every heart, and 
where all the members are knit together by the 
closest ties of friendship, love, and esteem. 
Who of us shall be permitted to rise and min- 
gle in that ever peaceful and ever harmonious 
assembly? Who of us shall live amid the 
splendors and the magnificent scenes of an 
eternal day? A thousand blessings upon the 
head of him who shall be elevated to yon 
shining world, where no inhabitant shall ever 
say, "I am sick," but where there is beauty 
for ashes, and joy for mourning, a beauty that 
shall never fade, and a joy that shall increase 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 105 

with all the revolving years of a never-ending 
eternity. for a home in this the seat of 
God's eternal empire ! 

But we proceed to notice, 

II. That there will be different degrees of glory 
and happiness in Heaven. 

1. The particular amount of happiness which 
each saint shall experience in the heavenly 
I state, will no doubt be in accordance with the 
improvement he made in divine things in this 
life. God, it is true, is the common source of 
all Heaven's bliss, and from him go out emana- 
tions in all directions, making all the righteous 
glad. But as the saints have different capaci- 
ties, so some will be capable of receiving larger 
portions of joy than others. We admit that 
the man that sincerely repents of his sins in the 
evening of his life, and gives satisfaction to an 
offended God, shall not see his sins rise up 
against him in the judgment, yet it does not 
seem reasonable that he should be elevated in 
the future world to the same degree of glory 
with another, who gave his heart to God in the 
morning of his days, and who, by a strict course 



106 HEAVEN AND ITS GLOEY. 

of obedience, excelled in the work of the Lord. 
Nor does it seem reasonable that the man that 
comes to God at the eleventh hour, and is 
accepted, should be raised to the same station 
of honor with, another, who, by many stripes 
and labors, by frequent exposures, and afflic- 
tions, and adversities, endured the loss of all 
things, and counted them as nothing, that he 
might be found in Christ Jesus, and might be 
the means of bringing many sons and daughters 
to glory. 

2. Jesus himself seems to teach that there 
will be different degrees of happiness among the 
redeemed in Heaven. In allusion to that better 
world, he says, "In my Father's house are 
many mansions." Some of those mansions are 
doubtless higher, and some lower, so as to suit 
the different stages of proficiency which men 
have made in virtue and godliness in this life. 
It would be difficult to conceive what was meant 
by the multitude of mansions in Heaven, if they 
did not also signify a difference in its glory. 
Were all the righteous to be placed in precisely 
the same station, we would most likely read of 
only one mansion instead of many in our 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 107 

Father's house above. Some of the highest of 
those habitations ; the prophet Daniel gives us 
to understand, shall be given to such as have 
greatly signalized themselves by their wisdom 
and instrumentality in the conversion of souls. 
That goodly prophet, when telling us that some 
" shall awake to everlasting life," adds, "and 
they that be wise shall shine as the brightness 
of the firmament, and they that turn many to 
righteousness as the stars forever and ever." 
And Christ once said to the apostles, " Ye are 
they who have continued with me in my temp- 
tation, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, that 
ye may eat and drink at my table in my king- 
dom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve 
tribes of Israel." And the sons of Zebedee re- 
quested of their Lord that they might sit, the 
one on his right and the other on his left hand, 
in his kingdom. But, although the Saviour 
did not promise them this honor, yet he plainly 
intimated that it would be given to such of his 
followers for whom it was prepared by his 
Father. There is no doubt but that the holy 
prophets and apostles, and those that have 
closely imitated them in the ministerial offices, 



108 HEAVEN AtfD ITS GLOKY. 

and persons of uncommon sanctity and zeal, 
shall be distinguished above others by par- 
ticular marks of glory, so that while all the 
saints shall shine in the kingdom of their 
Father, it will be with different degrees of 
brightness. There is "one glory of the sun, 
and another glory of the stars, one star differing 
from another star in glory,' 7 or brightness, " so 
also," says Paul, "is the resurrection of the 
dead." All raised to everlasting life will shine 
most gloriously, still the glory of some will 
excel the glory of others. Nor does this appear 
strange when we consider that even among 
God's flaming ministers, the holy angels, there 
are different orders and different degrees of 
glory. From a belief that it would be so with 
the redeemed in Heaven, the apostle urges the 
Corinthians to a liberal contribution for their 
distressed brethren, by assuring them that " he 
that soweth bountifully shall also reap bounti- 
fully, and he that soweth sparingly shall also 
reap sparingly." Thus we are made to under- 
stand that the greater our charity is here, the 
higher will be our future bliss, or the more 
thinly our seeds of charity are strewed in this 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 109 

world, so also the more scanty will be the har- 
vest of glory which w^e shall reap in the next. 

3. The parable of the talents, in the nine- 
teenth chapter of Luke's Gospel, indicates a 
difference in the future glory of the righteous. 
In that parable Jesus appears in the character 
of a certain nobleman, who is about to go into 
a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, 
and then to return. When leaving for that 
country he calls his ten servants to him, and 
gives them ten pounds, and said, " Occupy till 
I come." When he had returned he calls these 
servants to him again, that he might reward 
each man according to the improvement he had 
made of the talent entrusted to him. And we 
see him making a difference between two ser- 
vants, both acknowledged to have been faithful 
and just. The one whose pound had gained 
ten pounds, he thus addresses, "Well, thou 
good servant, because thou hast been faithful in 
a very little, have thou authority over ten 
cities." And to the other, whose pound had 
gained five pounds, he says, "Be thou also over 
five cities." Here each servant was diligent in 
the improvement of his talent, and each is re- 
2 



110 HEAVEN AND ITS GLOEY. 

warded for the same ; but the diligence of the 
one was double that of the other, and so his 
recompense is in proportion greater. It is in 
this manner that the good will be rewarded 
hereafter. The different degrees of honor be- 
stowed upon them will be varied to suit the 
different degrees of their faithfulness and per- 
severance in well-doing in this mortal state. 

But then it should be remembered that God 
gives to all his obedient servants infinitely more 
than their works deserved. For all Heaven's 
rewards are nothing short of eternal life. And 
what proportion can there x be between an eter- 
nity of joy and this short life of service for 
God, though it should be the most successful 
and disinterested? The most perfect man on 
earth cannot be said to merit the very lowest 
seat in Heaven, or that he should be a door- 
keeper in his heavenly Father's house. Our 
very righteousness itself we must ascribe to 
God's assisting grace, and Heaven only becomes 
ours through his abounding mercy towards us 
in Christ Jesus. We cannot demand eternal 
life on the ground that we merit it, but we 
most cheerfully anticipate it, because we know 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLOEY. Ill 

that God " will not forget our work and labor 
of love." And though. Heaven will most gladly 
receive us when we shall have reached the end 
of a consecrated life, yet we must still acknow- 
ledge ourselves to have been unprofitable ser- 
vants. 

4. But let no one suppose, that if some are 
more distinguished in heaven than others, that 
this must also cause uneasiness to some of its 
inhabitants. This will by no means be the 
case. There every inhabitant will be fully 
satisfied and completely happy with his par- 
ticular portion of happiness. In the present 
imperfect state of existence, some are disposed 
to repine, and to be discontented, and to envy 
those that are more prosperous and successful 
than themselves. But it will not be so in those 
peaceful regions. There envy, discontent, and 
pining are never known or felt. Those enjoy- 
ing the least degree of glory will relish it the 
more because others abound in theirs. They 
all drink from the same river that flows from 
the throne of the Eternal, and all are full. 
Like the manna that supplied the Israelites in 
the wilderness, so that all hall enough, and 



112 HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 

none lacked, so will it be in Heaven. Thus 
although, that happy throng will serve God 
with capacities differing, and will occupy dif- 
ferent stations, yet will they all feel themselves 
to be alike, and will form one unbroken, har- 
monious brotherhood. As they were once all 
children of disobedience, even as others, but 
after their regeneration all stood in the same 
relation to the Lord as his sons and daughters ; 
so now they regard themselves as companions, 
and are made kings and priests unto God the 
Father, for ever and ever. Those occupying 
the highest and principal seats will never look 
down with contempt on those beneath them ; 
nor will these ever lift up an envious eye 
toward them. But there will be universal good- 
will without the least mixture of pride or dis- 
satisfaction. We have no intimation of any 
discordance in the eternal palaces of light. 

5. But, finally, let us remind you that if you 
would be made partakers of the joys of Heaven, 
you must believe in God, repent of your sins, 
and lead a pious life. No unbelieving, lewd, 
vicious, profane, covetous, intemperate, or im- 
penitent persdh shall ever see the Lord in glory. 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 113 

"Know ye not/' says Paul, "that the unright- 
eous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?" 
And John tells us that only they who keep the 
commandments shall enter the celestial gates, 
and " have right to the tree of life." Without 
holiness you could not be happy even if you 
were admitted into Heaven. In the midst of 
light, you would be in darkness; and where 
greatest joys abound, shame and sorrow would 
cleave to you. Without holiness, Heaven itself 
would have no music for you, and the face of 
God would only terrify and confound you. 
Without holiness it would be absolutely impos- 
sible for any one to delight himself either in 
Heaven, or in the God of Heaven. If, then, 
you would be happy when you come to leave 
this world, be careful now to have your hearts 
purged from all corrupt affections, your minds 
enlightened, and your hearts sanctified. And 
let us be encouraged by the thought that the 
farther we progress in the divine life, the higher 
we shall rise in future glory ; and that the more 
industrious "we have been in our Master's ser- 
vice, and the more frequent and the severer 
have been our trials and temptations, the more 



114 HEAVEN" AND ITS GLORY. 

abundantly will the heavenly light beam upon us. 
O ! should not this consideration incite us to the 
most generous efforts and the most heroic vir- 
tues? Should it not call us constantly and 
regularly to our devotions and duties, and induce 
us to improve every opportunity of doing good 
to our fellow-men? Let us all seek earnestly 
and zealously future happiness. Let us humbly 
and heartily set our faces toward the Eternal 
City, and be always thinking of that happier 
clime, where the blest of God meet to praise 
Him evermore. 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 1 15 



PEAYBE. 

O God ; Thou art the first of beings and the 
last of ends ; Thou art the fountain of life and 
the source of inconceivable happiness to all that 
are about Thee. We rejoice that Thou hast 
prepared in the lofty heavens a sure habitation 
and an incorruptible crown for all the righteous. 
With much pleasure do we contemplate the 
future abode of the blessed, and the sweet an- 
thems and hallelujahs at thy right hand. With 
great joy and gladness we look forward to the 
time when our souls shall be perfected and glo- 
rified, and our resurrection-body shall be clothed 
with the brightness of angels and with thine own 
temper. We would keep continually in view 
the very many and exceeding great delights 
spoken of the New Jerusalem, thy holy city, 
and the unspeakable consolation of the in vita- 



116 HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 

tion, " Come ; ye blessed of my Father, inlierit 
the kingdom prepared for you." Upon all these 
things, our Grod, would we meditate day and 
night, and not in a cold and indifferent manner, 
as if an uncertain good, but as & state that will 
most surely be, and, therefore, to be embraced 
with that faith which is the substance of things 
hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen ! 
We acknowledge, Lord of all, that we can- 
not, in our present state, attain unto the perfec- 
tion of those happy beings inhabiting thy House 
above ; but we beseech Thee, give us grace and 
wisdom, that we may imitate them as far as it is 
possible for creatures dwelling in houses of clay. 
And as the saints in glory are now happy be- 
yond what we can conceive, in the vision and 
enjoyment of thyself, so help us by devout 
prayer and pious meditation to draw near to 
Thee, to contemplate the glory of thy majesty, 
the wisdom of thy providence, and the wonders 
of thy goodness and mercy, as displayed in the 



HEAVEN AND ITS GLORY. 117 

redemption of lost man by thine own son, Jesus 
Christ. And may the prospect of future joys 
raise our affections above the things of the world, 
and inspire in us a generous disdain of all its 
vain pleasures and uncertain advantages. May 
the hope of Heaveu lighten our afflictions, and 
moderate our passions, and reconcile us to the 
approach of death, which lays the seed of an 
endless immortality. May we consider ourselves 
as no longer under the power of carnal princi- 
ples, but animated by thy divine spirit to a 
rational life of temperance, of chastity, and of 
severe virtue and exemplary piety. May the 
life that we henceforth live in the flesh be one of 
unwearied activity and industry in doing good, 
and of such habitual mortification of those affec- 
tions which move to evil — that as with the 
blessed above they are not, so with us they may 
be as though they were not. 

And we pray that we may be enabled to dis- 
regard the inconveniences of our journey to that 



118 HEAVEN" AND ITS GLORY. 

heavenly resting place, and may be content with, 
the want of those accomodations of which we 
shall have abundance upon our safe arrival 
there. Only convince us, and we shall be satis- 
fied, that the more numerous and severe our 
trials and afflictions have been, so also the 
greater kindness we shall receive, and thus 
wholly forget them, or only remember them 
with the greater pleasure when they shall have 
wrought out for us an exceeding great and eter- 
nal weight of glory. 

And now, our Father, wilt Thou not choose 
us, and at last receive us to Thyself, that we 
may ever dwell with Thee, and be satisfied with 
the pleasures of Thy House, even of Thy holy 
and eternal habitation ? Amen. 



HELL AND ITS MISERY. 



Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from 
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 
devil and his angels. — Matthew, xxv. 41. 

Thus the place to which the sinful sons and 
daughters of Adam are finally sent, is the same 
that was originally prepared for the devil and 
his angels. This awful receptacle for lost men 
and angels is, on account of its vast distance 
from Heaven and the glory of God, called the 
bottomless pit; and because of its exquisite 
torments, it is called the lake of fire and brim- 
stone. Its most common name, however, is 
Sell 

This is a most gloomy subject to dwell upon y 
but not the less useful for that reason. In treat- 
ing it, therefore, we observe^ 

I. That hell has a real existence. 

1. This truth is taught in the Scriptures in 
language sufficiently express. The Saviour 
declares that, in the end of the world, the Son 



120 HELL AND ITS MISERY. 

of Man shall send forth his angels ; and that 
they shall gather out of his kingdom all things 
that offend and them that do iniquity, and " shall 
cast them into the furnace of fire, where there 
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." The 
fire to which Christ thus alludes as that into 
which the workers of iniquity are cast, cannot 
be merely an imaginary nothing: it must be 
a sad reality. The text is of the same fearful 
import. It comes from the lips of the great 
Judge himself, and he declares it to be his last 
sentence upon the finally impenitent. None need 
mistake its meaning. Again, Christ says, "If 
thine eye offend thee, pluck it out : it is better 
for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with 
one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into 
hell fire, where the worm dieth not, and the 
fire is not quenched. 7 ' This language is repeated 
several times in quick succession, and denotes 
the most intense suffering, both internal and ex- 
ternal, both as to the body and the mind. This 
is declared to be the future portion of the wicked. 
The fire shall never be extinguished or quenched. 
Nor need this surprise us when we consider that 
the same hand that at first prepared it, can, with 



HELL AND ITS MISERY. 121 

equal ease keep it in a state of repair. Yes, 
" the breath, of the Lord, like a stream of brim- 
stone, doth" continually " kindle it." 

2. How dreadful a place, then, must Hell be! 
"Who can describe it ? No mortal man. Per- 
haps the most intellectual of the fallen, hosts, if 
released from his dark prison, could not ade- 
quately portray its horrors. But we can ima- 
gine what kind of place it must be where 
nothing is experienced but sorrow and pain ; 
and where all things wear the gloom, the wrath, 
and the indignation of an enraged God. Into 
that dark world no light penetrates, except what 
is necessary to show the damned their doleful 
condition, and the horifying spectacles around 
them. There, in that vast howling wilderness, 
men and angels are inflamed with mutual malice 
and hatred, and are mutual tormentors. There 
all the ungodly are made to realize the fullness 
of that weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of 
teeth, of which we read in the Word of God, and 
which the severity of their torments continually 
occasion. There entreaties, and tears, and 
groans can never avail to mitigate their suffer- 
ings ; but the pleasures which they had in this 



122 HELL AND ITS MISERY. 

life are more than ten thousand times counter- 
balanced by the plagues and agonies which they 
endure. These thoughts may help to give you 
a faint image of that dismal abode, and the for- 
lorn condition of those in it. We might say 
more ; but unto what shall we liken the miseries 
of hell fire ? t 

We observe— 

II. That there will he different degrees of misery 
in Sell. 

1. There can be no doubt but that all the in- 
habitants of that dreary land will be inconceiv- 
ably unhappy ; yet it is reasonable to suppose 
that the sufferings of some will be greater than 
those of others. One reason for this belief is 
that their sins were more numerous and aggra- 
vated. Now, one of the bitter ingredients in 
the sinner's cup of future woe, will be remorse 
of conscience. This will arise from the know- 
ledge and conviction he has of his guilt. So 
the more enormous any one's crimes may have 
been, the more poignant also will be his remorse. 
In this life, the wicked are disposed to use vari- 
ous methods to suppress or divert the bitter 



HELL AND ITS MISERY. 123 

reproaches of a guilty conscience; and they 
often deceive themselves by expecting to repent, 
at some future day, before they die. But when 
they are once cut off from the land of the living, 
they are denied the indulgence of such a hope. 
Beyond the dominion of the earth, the ungodly 
can neither look for, nor experience any thing 
but unmixed, uninterrupted misery. Their 
thoughts now run continually upon their past 
sins, and the more ungodly they have been, so 
also the more piercing will be their reflections, 
and consequently the more tormenting their suf- 
ferings. O ye vilest of the vile, will ye not now 
reflect, and repent your past deeds ? 

2. Again, it seems highly probable that such 
as go down to Hell from Christian lands, will 
feel the weight of their condemnation more 
heavily than such as are sent there from heathen 
countries. And the reason is, that the former 
had the Bible to teach them how to shun this 
awful abode, which the others had not. Imag- 
ine, then, how deplorable beyond comparison 
must be the condition of those that are perpetu- 
ally thinking of the very favorable circumstan- 
ces they once were in of knowing and enjoying 



124 HELL AND ITS MISERY. 

God, and of reaching those heavenly joys of 
which they are now forever deprived. And 
the oftener any have been urged to repent, and 
yet have presumptuously resisted the strivings 
of the Holy Ghost, so also the more furiously 
shall they be torn by the worm that never dies, 
and the more greedily devoured by the fire that 
is never quenched. Ah ! should any of you be 
so unfortunate as to be compelled to take up 
your abode in that unhappy world; you will 
then remember how great the Lord's mercy was 
toward you, a mercy not equally vouchsafed to 
all mankind. You will there also be made to 
realize, that in proportion as you refused to 
profit by the means of grace once afforded you, 
has now your anguish and wretchedness been 
increased above that of others. 

3. This truth that we are advocating is abund- 
antly confirmed by the "Word of God. Here 
we read that the servant that knew his Master's 
will, but did not accordingly, shall be beaten 
with many stripes ; while he that knew not his 
Master's will, but did things worthy of stripes, 
shall be beaten with few. And Jesus declares 
to the Scribes and Pharisees that because they 



HELL AND ITS MISEKY. 125 

devoured widows' houses, and, for a pretence, 
made long prayers, that they should receive the 
greater damnation. The man, too, that was ad- 
mitted to the marriage-feast without a wedding 
garment, was cast "into outer darkness." These 
Scriptures and others that might be added, prove 
that there are differences in the torments of the 
wicked in those black realms of despair; and 
that these are correspondent to their different 
characters and privileges in this world. And 
surely the All-wise God who can clearly see the 
difference in men's guilt, is also fully able to 
punish all sin hereafter as it deserves ; to pro- 
portion the misery to the wickedness, and to in- 
flict such particular punishments upon notorious 
offenders as shall be exactly suited to the nature 
of their offences. But this leaves no consola- 
tion to any impenitent person, since he that 
shall suffer for the smallest offence will find his 
punishment has no end. He shall never be re- 
leased from the pit of woe. Hence, we observe, 

III. That the misery of Hell will be eternal. 

1. This fact is plainly and frequently asserted 
in the Sacred Scriptures. The prophet Daniel, 
when speaking of them that sleep in the dust of 



126 HELL AND ITS MISERY. 

the earth, tells us that some " shall awake to 
shame and everlasting contempt." In the Gospel 
of the Son of God, we read of everlasting punish- 
ment, everlasting destruction, eternal judgment, 
and eternal damnation. There we read of the 
worm that never dies, and of the fire that is 
never quenched, and of blackness of darkness 
forever. In the Eevelation of John, we are told 
that the smoke of the torment of the damned 
" ascendeth up for ever and ever." Such lan- 
guage was certainly not employed to denote 
merely a temporary duration of suffering. To 
suppose this were to do it in direct opposition to 
the most obvious meaning of the terms em- 
ployed. Besides, Jesus, when setting forth the 
duration of the future misery of the wicked, 
uses the same language as when he is setting 
forth the duration of the future happiness of the 
righteous. " These," says he, when speaking of 
the wicked, " shall go away into everlasting 
punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." 
In this sentence which we have just quoted, the 
word translated everlasting, in reference to the 
wicked, is the same, in the original Greek, that 
in the other part of the sentence is translated 



HELL AND ITS MISERY. 127 

eternal, in reference to the righteous. Must it 
not, then, in either case indicate the same un- 
ending state of existence. The fact, that it is 
used in reference to two very different classes 
of persons is no reason for restricting its mean- 
ing in the one instance, and giving it its full 
sense in the other. Christ did not intend that 
we should so understand or apply it. So as it 
is pleasing to know that there is an eternity of 
bliss provided for the good and holy hereafter, 
let no one err and endanger the salvation of his 
soul, by denying that there is an eternity of woe 
in reserve for the impure and the unholy. 

2. Again, the eternity of Hell's misery ap- 
pears from the nature of sin itself. What is 
sin ? Is it not an offense against the Great God ? 
Consider, then, the sinner lives habitually in the 
neglect and contempt of this AlmightjT- Being. 
He spends a life time, or the greater part of 
it, in defying infinite power and in despising 
infinite goodness. He shows no gratitude, dis- 
charges no duty, and gives no honor to his Crea- 
tor, nor does he stand in awe of him. But, on 
the contrary, he despises the goodness of God in 
the mission of his Son into our world, to seek 



128 HELL AND ITS MISERY. 

and to save tlie lost. He provokes God by 
counting the blood of Christ, by which, men are 
saved, an unholy thing, and by stopping his ears 
to all the kind calls and admonitions of his 
spirit. . He renders himself offensive to God by 
flying from all that is good and ennobling, and 
clinging to all that is evil and debasing. By 
this conduct he becomes such a compound of sin 
and folly, and all uncleanness, that no punishment 
would seem to be too severe or lengthy to 
avenge. How is it in human society ? Has not 
the ruling power a right, in the case of habitual 
offenses, or for a single heinous transgression, to 
inflict punishment for life ? If, then, it be law- 
ful among men to impose such punishments upon 
notorious offenders of the rights of society as 
shall affect their whole existence in this life, 
can it be unjust in God to impose such punish- 
ments upon notorious transgressors of his laws 
as shall affect their whole future existence? 
Certainly not. For there is manifestly as much 
difference between the offenses as there can 
possibly be in the duration of the punishments. 
Farther, in human society an offense offered a 
ruler is regarded as more heinous than one 



HELL AND ITS MISERY. 129 

committed against a private citizen. And in 
proportion as the ruler is more eminent and 
honorable ; are the injuries and indignities offered 
him esteemed the more heinous. As then the 
sinner offends against the greatest of beings, the 
Lord of heaven and earth, the God of infinite 
goodness and love — the punishment for such 
conduct must be infinite too. But as finite be- 
ings cannot endure suffering that is infinite in 
degree, so it must be infinite in duration, that it 
may in some measure correspond to the nature 
and aggravation of their crimes. Nothing, there- 
fore, short of eternal pain and agony seems a 
suitable recompense for such as persist in sin. 

3. The eternity of Hell's misery appears also 
from the method of God's providential proceed- 
ings with mankind. God sets before, us good 
and evil, rewards and punishments, and leaves 
us to choose which we will, and then deals with 
us as our choice may be. Now, if God had 
promised eternal happiness to a life of holiness, 
and not threatened eternal misery to a life of sin, 
there might be cause for complaint against his 
providence. It might be said that he makes 
some of his creatures suffer eternal torment for 



130 HELL AND ITS MISERY. 

a short life of disobedience, while he had not 
promised eternal joy to a short life of virtue. 
Brit since he has made the rewards and punish- 
ments after this life equal — that is, both eternal 
in their duration — there remains no cause for 
complaint. But God does not stop here. "We 
find him continually exhorting men, and mov- 
ing them with the influence of his holy spirit, 
that they may escape the punishment ; and he 
most earnestly invites, and sufficiently enables 
them to choose and obtain the reward. He de- 
clares also in the most solemn manner, that he 
has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but 
would rather that the wicked would turn from 
his wickedness and live. He proclaims him- 
self, "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long 
suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, 
keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving ini- 
quity, and transgressions, and sin ; but who will 
by no means clear the guilty." Thus God gives 
great encouragement to holiness, and every pos- 
sible discouragement to vice. Nor does he take 
any advantage of his creatures, but makes ail 
reasonable allowance for human frailty and in- 
firmities. He demands no absolute perfection, 



HELL AND ITS MISERY. 131 

no impossible obedience, but only a faithful and 
diligent use of the means of grace afforded. 
And where this has been neglected, he asks no 
more than what any one may do ; and that is a 
hearty repentance for past offenses, and prayer 
and watchfulness in the future. But if men will 
not attend to these things ; if they will neither 
respect God's promises^ nor fear his threats ; if 
they will continue to refuse his calls and scorn 
at his invitations, so that the methods of his 
grace and mercy are lost upon them : it is but 
right and proper that justice should have its 
course. And if men have often been forewarned 
of the danger to which they are exposing them- 
selves, and yet have persisted in their rebellion, 
they will have no reason in eternity to complain 
that the vengeance inflicted upon them is too 
severe. They need then but remember that this 
vengeance was often threatened, and as often 
despised by thern. Oh ! should any of you be so 
unfortunate as to go to the world of the lost, you 
will not only be convinced that your sins brought 
you there, but be compelled to acknowledge that 
the sentence of eternal damnation which a just 
God will pronounce and execute upon you, was 



132 HELL AND ITS MISERY. 

what you deserved for your iniquities. that 
you would now consider the many motives and 
abundant means you have of securing the salva- 
tion of your souls ! You have destroyed your- 
selves, but in God is your help. 

4. The honor of God's laws demand that the 
misery of the wicked be eternal. On account 
of our Mien nature, and the charming proper- 
ties of sin, God saw that if he annexed a penalty 
to the violation of his laws less weighty than 
eternal pain and anguish, it would not be suffi- 
ciently powerful to restrain men from sin. This 
is evident from the fact that the penalty now 
annexed fails with vast multitudes in its design. 
How then could we expect a denunciation less 
weighty to prevail with sinners so as to frighten 
them out of their sinful courses? Is not the 
proper punishment for an offense that which is 
best adapted to enforce obedience to the law ? 
And if the law be good and necessary, and men 
cannot be made to obey it without a heavy 
punishment being annexed to it, the severity of 
the punishment cannot be regarded as a cruelty. 
Certainly not ; because it is the best method to 
have the law observed, and so of having the 



HELL AND ITS MISERY. 133 

benefit rept that was designed by it. Human 
law-makers are anxious to have the penalties 
they annex to the violations of their laws suffi- 
ciently powerful to enforce obedience to them. 
And the All-wise Law-giver of the world, who 
perfectly understands man's natural proneness 
to evil and aversion to good, foresaw that if he 
annexed a punishment to the transgression of 
his commandments less severe than eternal con- 
finement to the whirlpool of hell fire, it would 
not be sufficiently potent, it would not produce 
in them a saving impression. It was therefore 
fit that God should make use of such a penalty 
to accomplish the end designed. 

5. Once more. God will certainly execute 
his threatened vengeance on the wicked. This 
even the impious Balaam acknowledged. That 
unhappy prophet declares, "God is not a man, 
that he should lie, neither the son of man, that 
he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he 
not do it ? or hath he spoken, and shall he not 
make it good?" Some of God's threatened 
judgments upon the wicked are suspended upon 
a condition, which, if complied with, he does 
not execute them. But others are absolute and 



134 hell a:n t d its misery. 

unconditional, such, lie lias confirmed with an 
oath. Hence, we conclude that the unrighteous 
shall not inherit the kingdom of Heaven, be- 
cause God has sworn that "they shall not enter 
into his rest," and we know that what God has 
sworn to he will not alter, for "he abideth faith- 
ful, and cannot deny himself." Be assured, then, 
that he will not change his determination, nor 
reverse the sentence that has gone forth from 
his lips. To the wicked he saith, " Because I 
have called, and ye refused, I have stretched 
out my hand, and ye regarded not, but have 
set at nought all my counsel, and would none 
of my reproof; therefore I will laugh at your 
calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh, 
when your fear cometh as desolation, and your 
destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when dis- 
tress and anguish come upon you." Gan any of 
you resist the arm of the almighty ; or who of 
you will be strong when judgment has once 
seized upon you, and a fiery indignation is ready 
to consume you. 

We have thus brought before your minds the 
future world of misery with its fearful realities. 
We have proved to you that a most fearful 



HELL AND ITS MISERY. 135 

and an eternal vengeance awaits an unbelieving 
world. The Scrip tures ; as we have shown you, 
distinctly state and establish this ; and that it is 
evident from the nature of sin itself, the method 
of God's dealings with his rational creatures, 
from the character of his laws and his express 
declarations as a God of truth. 

Now this doctrine is so necessary to a holy 
life, that for any one to renounce it is to remove 
the strongest barrier between himself and the 
sins he loves. Do not think then that God 
will grant salvation upon easier terms than the 
abandoning of your evil doings. "Be not de- 
ceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a 
man soweth, that shall he also reap." If you 
are disposed to imagine that your condition in 
the next world will be more favorable than an 
impartial review of your present life will war- 
rant, you have great reason to fear and tremble. 
Eeject such suggestions at once as the artifice 
of Satan, who would deprive you of Heaven, 
and plunge you into hell. Break off all league 
with sin, and take care that none of you, by a 
groundless belief of a future temporary punish- 
ment, throw yourselves upon one that is without 



136 HELL AND ITS MISERY, 

end. You have yet the opportunity of escaping 
so fearful a doom. ! how thankful ought 
you to be that you are not already in those re- 
gions of hopelessness and despair. But, unless 
you come to God through Christ, you must at 
last go to that dark world where all things .are 
turned into poison, and where the inhabitants 
are shut out from all mercy and hope of Heaven, 
and have their torments perpetuated forever. 



HELL AND ITS MISERY. 137 



PRAYER. 

Lord God ! Thou art the great and terrible 
God ; and thy whole character is concerned in 
punishing the wicked according to their works. 
Thou art holy, and hatest all the workers of 
iniquity. Thou art just ; and canst not clear the 
guilty, nor let the impenitent go unpunished. 
Thou art almighty, and able to execute ven- 
geance upon all that oppose Thee ; for who can 
stand in thy sight when once Thou art angry ? 
And Thou continuest forever the same, and 
therefore canst never cease to be a sore enemy 
to all that persist in sin. Thou hast also sent 
thy Son into our world, not only as a Saviour, 
but as a Eevealer of thy wrath against all un- 
godliness and unrighteousness of men. By him 
Thou hast made known unto us the sentence 
that shall be executed upon all the wicked ; and 
he by his blood hath sealed the truth of thy 
threatenings as well as of thy promises. ! how 



138 HELL AND ITS MISERY. 

astonishing that any of our race, which Thou 
hast so tenderly loved, should at last perish. 

But, Almighty God! we beseech Thee, let 
the contemplation of those sad torments to which 
the unholy and abominable are finally doomed, 
induce us all to seek thy grace, that we may 
escape them. Let the thought of the misery of 
the lost be a most powerful motive to quicken 
and enlarge our praises and thanksgivings to 
Thee, and to excite in us an utter horror and 
detestation of every evil way and doing. And 
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from 
Heaven as the Eevenger of all that know Thee 
not and obey not thy commands, let not our 
portion be with those that shall be punished 
with eternal banishment from thy presence and 
the glory of thy power. Amen. 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION 

OF THE 

HUMAN RACE. 



Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, 
that they might be saved. — Rom. x. i. 

This is the language of deep feeling and 
anxiety. The apostle Paul, ardently desired 
and fervently prayed that the Jews, his brethren, 
according to the flesh, might be saved, though 
they were " ignorant of God's righteousness, and 
were going about to establish their own right- 
eousness, and had not submitted themselves unto 
the righteousness of God." Such must also be 
the feeling and sentiment of every true Chris- 
tian now when contemplating the condition of 
the human race, or any portion of it that is in 
a state of alienation from God, through igno- 
rance or by wicked works. At no time, perhaps, 
since their departure out of Egypt, were the 
Jewish people in so deplorable a condition as 



140 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF 

when the apostle wrote ; and yet, desperate as 
was their condition, it did not preclude all hope 
of their recovery to the favor of God, through, 
the meritorious death of his Son. Nor is there 
at this time a nation upon the face of the earth 
so rebellious, or so deeply sunken in human 
ignorance and idolatry, as to make it appear 
useless to send the gospel to them, or unwise to 
expect Christian fruits from its promulgation 
among them. If the apostle could persuade 
himself that the unbelieving Jews of his day 
might be converted to Christianity by the preach- 
ing of the gospel, so may it reasonably be sup- 
posed that the heathen world, and any who are 
out of Christ now, might be converted by the 
same instrumentality. The Scriptures of divine 
truth represent all mankind as alike estranged 
from God by nature, and without hope in the 
world. The apostle himself, when speaking of 
mankind in general, says, "God hath concluded 
them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy 
upon all." All have deeply revolted from God, 
and through Jesus Christ, his Son, a way has 
been opened for their return to him. And all 
who come to God in this consecrated way, of 



THE HUMAN EACE. 141 

whatever nation or language they may be, shall 
be accepted and blessed. "To him/ 7 that is, 
Christ, says the apostle Peter, "give all the 
prophets witness, that through his name whoso- 
ever believeth in him shall receive remission of 
sins." It is also written, "whosever shall call 
upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. 
But how shall they call on him in whom they 
have not believed ? and how shall they believe 
in him of whom they have not heard ? and how 
shall they hear without a preacher?" 

In the continuation of our remarks we ob- 
serve, 

I. That the vast majority of the human race 
are in a perishable condition, either from ignorance 
or indifference, or contempt of the great salvation 
obtainable in Christ Jesus. 

1. If we take a progressive view of the moral 
and religious state of society in our own country 
or foreign lands, we will be constrained to admit 
the truth of the statement just made. But let 
us begin with the city* highly exalted in point 
of religious advantages. Many good men have 

* Philadelphia. 



142 MORAL AND EELIGIOUS CONDITION OF 

lived, and labored, and died here, who in their 
lives and actions bore ample testimony to the 
truth and power of religion before the Church 
and the world. Here the eye of the stranger is 
greeted in all parts of the city with large and 
beautiful houses dedicated to the worship of God, 
and with spires pointing to the heavens. The 
word of the Lord is preached every Sabbath to 
multitudes, and many prayers ascend for Zion's 
prosperity and purification, and the conversion 
of the ungodly. Lectures on religion and mo- 
rality are frequent. Much useful information is 
imparted and received in the Sabbath Schools, 
Bible classes and prayer meetings ; by these the 
hearts of the children and youth are impressed, 
and Christians refreshed and encouraged. Where 
so many blessed means of grace are enjoyed and 
abound, it might reasonably be expected there 
would be a very general harvest of good things. 
But is this the case ? Has the Church of Grod 
made a' general conquest ? Are there not mul- 
titudes who are out of Christ ? And not all who 
bear the name of Christ are found walking blame- 
less in all his statutes and ordinances. Many of 
his professed followers manifest no particular 



THE HUMAN EACE. 143 

concern, either of their own salvation or that of 
others. They live in the neglect of prayer, and 
in no way exert themselves for the good of the 
Bedeemer's kingdom. Many attend upon the 
preaching of the word only occasionally, and 
then more out of curiosity or from worldly mo- 
tives than with the expectation of a blessing; 
and many never frequent the place of the public 
worship of God. Some are " carried about with 
divers and strange doctrines, not having their 
hearts established with grace ;" and by others, 
the most absurd and injurious views are enter- 
tained and advocated. Multitudes are devoted 
to sinful pleasures and practices, too many to be 
numbered, and too dark to be named. Thus, not- 
withstanding the benign influence which Chris- 
tianity exerts, vast numbers are to be found in 
this great city who are the worshippers of the 
gods of the world, and rejectors and despisers 
of the Gospel of the Son of God, who came from 
heaven to earth to save the lost man. 

2. But let us leave the city, and take a view 
of the State. There are, it is true, many things 
in this great Commonwealth which afford much 
pleasure in reflecting upon, but which are not 



14:4 MORAL AND EELIGIOUS CONDITION OF 

of a spiritual nature. It is a very prosperous 
State; the land being productive; and the climate 
healthful. There are many improvements of a 
public, private and corporate character, that are 
a great general benefit. The institutions of 
learning, the common school system, the asylums 
for the insane, the blind, the deaf and dumb, are. 
a praise to her citizens, and an honor to her 
government. 

But it is the moral and religious condition of 
the State that especially concerns us at this time. 
And if it were asked, what has been done for her 
spiritual improvement? the answer would be, 
very much. The gospel has been extensively 
preached throughout the State, for generations. 
Neither labor, nor expense has been spared to 
give to all classes the advantages of the Chris- 
tian religion. And as a result, a great number 
of churches have been erected, especially within 
the last ten years ; thousands converted, and the 
ranks of the ministry filled up. Multitudes are 
constantly being added to the church militant, 
who, by divine grace and perseverance, are fit- 
ting themselves for the church triumphant. But, 
notwithstanding these cheering facts, what, we 



THE HUMAN BACE. 145 

ask, is at this hour, the true spiritual condition 
of the State as a whole ? Are there not thou- 
sands living without the pale of the Christian 
Church, and who keep themselves beyond the 
reach of the saving influences of the preached 
word ? What numbers reject Christ, and dis- 
pise his gospel, and frustrate all efforts to do 
them good. Many are declining to more un- 
godliness, are more openly and professedly irre- 
ligious ; they are more active in mischief, and 
vice has assumed a deeper degree of inveteracy 
and hatred among them than before manifested. 
What corruption in the youthful population! 
What practiced villainy and hardihood among 
quite young people ! There are thousands in this 
enlightened land, who have no serious thoughts 
of preparation for death and eternity. They 
buy, they sell, they plant, they speculate, they 
eat and drink, and marry, and are given in 
marriage ; but they neither feel nor care to feel, 
respecting the coming of the Son of Man. They 
have no concern about their souls' welfare, no 
more than if there had been no promise, no 
warning, no revelation, no future state, no God. 
They have no practical reference to these things, 



14:6 MORAL Mm RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF 

unless to make sport of them. How solemn and 
fearful the thought that while the army of the 
Lord is marching forward, Satan with his nu- 
merous emissaries is capturing thousands upon 
thousands, and plunging them into the gulf of 
irretrievable and unending misery. 

3. When we take a view of our whole country 
the scene is not so much changed in character as 
it is widened in extent. Perhaps one of the first 
thoughts that strike the mind in contemplating 
our native land, is its vastness. It is emphati- 
cally a great country. Stretching from the At- 
lantic to the Pacific ocean, it embraces an area 
of land large enough to support half the popula- 
tion of the globe. From small and dishearten- 
ing beginnings, the nation that spreads over this 
great Republic has become the wonder of the 
world. Its history is unique. By industry and 
ingenuity the country has been made to abound 
in all useful improvements and inventions ; and 
we are blessed with all the comforts and sup- 
ports of civilized and refined life. Our moun- 
tains, rivers, lakes and seas, have all been made 
to contribute to our prosperity and riches as a 
people. Our merchandise, arising from agricul- 



THE HUMAN KACE. 147 

ture and manufacture; from our mines of gold 
and silver, is conveyed by land and sea to all 
the great marts of the world, and tend to the 
support and comfort and riches of remote nations. 
Our government is humane and equitable, a fit 
model for any nation, and such as would have 
done honor to Greece or Eome when in the 
height of political greatness and renown. Our 
orators and statesmen are unsurpassed by those 
of any nation or age. Our men of science have 
made discoveries in the heavens and in the 
earth, and have contributed to every branch of 
sound philosophy. Our artists live, and our 
warriors and mighty men have seen for them- 
selves an imperishable fame. 

Nor is our beloved country less renowned in 
a religious point of view. A Bible was one of 
the first articles deposited on America's free soil 
by the Pilgrim Fathers, and a house for the 
worship of God, one of the first buildings erec- 
ted. In this strange land, and far from the 
scenes of their former opposition and persecu- 
tion, that little band of Christian worthies ceased 
not to remember Zion and to sing the Lord's 
songs. Filled with the spirit of their Divine 



143 MOEAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF 

Master, they soon began to lay the foundation of 
that moral and religious training which lias ever 
since characterized their descendants, and bene- 
fited all generations from their day to the pre- 
sent. The little light that glittered around the 
rock of Plymouth, and seemed at first, as though 
it would be extinguished by disastrous storms, 
soon began to spread and brighten, till, like the 
meridian sun. it is seen and felt every where. 
The Church of the Redeemer has grown in our 
land, and has been greatly multiplied. Xot all 
the combined force of men and devils has been 
able to overthrow her or retard her onward 
march : so that we are at this time a most glori- 
ous church, which the Lord God of Sabaoth has 
greatly blessed. 

But-, notwithstanding the former prosperity of 
the American Church, we regard her as more 
efficient and successful now than ever. There 
never was a time in her history, when so many 
men of the highest order of intellect, and the 
most profound erudition and warmest piety, were 
engaged in advocating her claims. And with the 
increase of the ministry, there have come also 
more varied attainments ; so that the gospel is 



THE HUMAN EACE. 149 

preached in a style suited to the capacities and 
understandings of men of all orders and condi- 
tions. While the great and learned hear it in 
language such as they are accustomed to, those 
in the lower walks of life, and the unlearned, hear 
it in its simplicity. Nor is the word preached 
confined to churches and superb halls, but is pro- 
claimed in private dwellings, in school-houses, 
in the streets, and on the highways. The 
gospel trumpet is sounded in our valleys, and 
on our mountains, and through our forests ; and 
by this powerful instrumentality Christ is as 
effectually and more extensively now than ever 
calling to the inhabitants, " Look unto me, and 
be ye saved ; for I am God, and there is none 
else." 

When, however, we thus speak of the efficiency 
and increasing greatness of the kingdom of Christ 
in our land, we do not mean to teach that our 
whole country has already become enlightened 
by the gospel, or supplied with the written word 
of God. Would that we could announce this as 
a fact. Most gladly would we see all within our 
borders made acquainted with the way of salva- 
tion ! But alas ! this is by no means the case. 



150 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF 

There are many ten thousands deprived of all 
the means of grace, who have not the Bible, and 
who are never visited by a living minister of 
Christ. There are many districts in the far West 
and South but thinly settled, that are very in- 
adequately supplied with either the written or 
preached word. Much remains to be done yet, 
before we shall see evangelized the thousands, 
who for the greater part of the year, and we 
might say of their lives, are floating on our ca- 
nals, and rivers, and lakes, and along our sea- 
coasts, in the character of sailors, and as persons 
of business and pleasure. Much remains to be 
done before the population of the land constitu- 
ted of the different races of people shall be pro- 
perly elevated and christianized. And, behold 
our Indian tribes, still barbarians, living in na- 
ture's darkness, as did their fathers. Except 
here and there, where there are missionaries 
among them, they are still in blindness as to the 
true God. With little knowledge of the true 
God, or of their origin or future destiny, we see 
them scattered upon rocky mountains, or roving 
over sandy plains, or covered in the thick for- 
ests of the valleys. 



THE HUMAN EACE. 151 

And now look where you will, and yon see 
the awful effects of the fall and of the violation 
of God's most righteous laws. It is seen not 
only where Christ is but seldom or never heard 
of, but in those parts where he is most frequently 
and fervently presented to the people. We hear 
of fraud and murder, and vices and crimes 
of all kinds, being perpetrated in districts most 
highly favored with the gospel, and where Christ 
has had his most signal triumphs. Men are 
unwilling to forsake the guides of false philoso- 
phy and deceit, of sin and error, and commit 
themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. Multitudes 
throughout the country make lying their usual 
logic, and swearing their pleasing rhetoric ; and 
instead of being distressed on account of their 
sins, take pleasure in them. What numbers are 
addicted to habits of intemperance in drinking 
and eating; what cruelty and oppression charac- 
terize others. Think of the inmates of our 
prisons and penitentiaries, and other places of 
incarceration ; the creatures of passions and trans- 
gressions. Some, like the Pharisees and lawyers 
of old ; reject the counsel of God against them- 
selves.— Luke vii. 30. In some parts, the pub- 



152 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION" OF 

lie worship of God is much, neglected, while 
the fields, the roads, and the public houses are 
much frequented. In some towns it would seem 
as if nearly one -half, if not altogether of the in- 
habitants, absented themselves from the house 
of God. 0, that this should be the case ! That 
men should be ignorant of the way of peace, and 
should have no fear of God before their eyes. 
With all our heavenly light and sacred privi- 
leges, " the ways of Zion do mourn, because few 
come to her solemn feasts." The church of the 
Redeemer may be said to be a little flock amid 
millions. The powers of light and darkness are 
in great conflict, and many battles must yet be 
fought with Satan, the great arch enemy of man, 
before our country shall be fully subjugated to 
Christ, or can be called Emmanuel's land. 

4. But, when from our native land we go 
north or south, we see continually less light, and 
more darkness and error the farther we proceed. 
In those vast regions, reaching from our north- 
ern boundary to the Polar sea ; there are vast 
numbers that can scarcely discern between the 
right hand and the left, in spiritual things. Lit- 
tle effort has, as yet been made to christianize 



THE HUMAN KACE. 153 

the tribes beyond the Canadas. And nowhere 
north of us do the people enjoy as great religious 
privileges and advantages as ourselves, unless it 
be in Canada. As to those countries lying south 
of our southern boundary, and extending across 
the equator, and all South America ; it is a well 
ascertained fact that the inhabitants of these 
lands are far behind us in point of religious op- 
portunities and blessings. Few parts from Texas 
to Terra del Fuego, can be regarded as much 
enlightened by the gospel ; some have a little 
light, but darkness . covers the minds of the 
people in most places, and they are under the 
influence of superstition and idolatry. And the 
moral and religious character of the people, as 
is the case in all countries, corresponds pretty 
much with the amount of spiritual knowledge 
which they possess, and the nature of their views 
of the Divine Being, and of his relation to them. 
5. When we lift up our eyes upon the islands 
of the seas, what do we behold ? the inhabitants 
in every conceivable condition, adhering to all 
kinds of religion, and to every form of worship. 
Some worship beasts and reptiles, birds and 
fishes; some worship gods of their own making; 



154 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF 

others worship the sun, moon and stars ; and a 
few worship the glorious Son of God. In those 
islands where the missionaries have not induced 
the people to renounce their idols and embrace 
Christianity ; there they are ignorant of the mode 
of approach to the true God, and are addicted 
to the most revolting customs, among which are 
infanticide, and the eating of human flesh. 

6. If we cross the ocean and take a view of 
those islands which have been for ages celebra- 
ted for science and religion, and where so many- 
important missionary enterprises have origina- 
ted, we have a confirmation of our first state- 
ment. Not England nor Scotland can say, a My 
sons and my daughters are all born of God," 
The children of these, as well as those of their 
less highly favored sister, Ireland, are to an 
alarming extent, under the dominion of the 
Prince of the power of the air. 

In England, as in the United States, there is 
the wide dissemination of principles whose ten- 
dency is to overthrow all faith. Such, espe- 
cially, is the tendency of that erroneous notion, 
that sincerity is the only test of religion, so that 
he who persuades himself that he is right in his 



THE HUMAN EACS. 155 

faith, believes all that is necessary for his salva- 
tion. But if this were true, then it would not 
be necessary to believe any particular doctrine 
of Christianity, and belief in Christ could not be, 
as the gospel declares it is the condition on 
which men shall be saved. 0, how true it is 
that the evil one clothes himself as an angel of 
light ! By many, all modes of faith are treated 
with impartial favor, all regarded as equally 
true. There is much in the spirit of the age of 
the most lamentable nature. There is an in- 
satiable inquiry, not always accompanied by 
modesty ; a thirst for novelty; a superficial infor- 
mation ; .the adoration of intellect and of know- 
ledge, and the exclusive devotion of men to 
merely worldly sciences. 

7. But let us go to Continental Europe. Here 
is the birth-place of Protestantism. Here rest 
the bones of martyrs and champions of the cause 
of Christ. Glorious things are spoken of this 
land. But, alas! infidelity and unbelief have 
ascended upon high places ; reason has usurped 
the prerogative of Jehovah, trampled upon his 
laws and ordinances, and set at defiance his most 
holy will. Satan with his numerous progeny, 



158 M0EAL AND KELIGIOUS CONDITION OF 

lias long stood like an almost impregnable Gib- 
raltar, against the armies of our Emmanuel, in 
this the great theatre of the world. In France, 
the effects of the infidel conspiracy of the last 
century are still felt and seen. It is true, Chris- 
tianity of late years seems less directly assailed ; 
and infidelity may be less industriously propa- 
gated, but still, an infidel and perverse genera- 
tion lives without Grod. The prevalence of this 
deadly evil has been so great that La Mennais, 
an eloquent minister of that nation, declared 
some years ago, that " the state to which we are 
approaching is one of the signs by which will 
be recognised that last man announced by Jesus 
Christ." "What," said he, "do you perceive 
every where but a profound indifference as to 
duties and faith, with an unbridled love of plea- 
sure and of gold, by means of which any thing 
can be obtained ? all is bought, for all is sold ; 
conscience, honor, religion, opinions, dignities* 
power, consideration, — even respect: avast ship- 
wreck of all truths and all virtues." Indiffer- 
ence, total indifference to religion ; the utmost 
neglect and contempt of Christianity, as a thing 



THE HUMAN RACE. 157 

un worthy of examination are the characteris- 
tics of modern infidelity in France, 

In Germany the spirit of unbelief assumes the 
name of Eationalism ; and pretends to respect 
the character of Christ ; while under the guise of 
Christianity it boldly rejects all the revelation 
of God that is incomprehensible by our limited 
faculties. Thus the gospel is deprived of its 
peculiar and divinely revealed doctrines, and the 
mind is left at last without one particle of Chris- 
tian faith or hope. This destructive system 
which arose after the middle of the last century, 
has unhappily become very prevalent in Ger- 
many, and its injurious effects are felt in other 
parts of the Christian world, and perhaps not 
the least in America. 

8. When from Europe we turn south or east 
what pitiful scenes present themselves to our 
view . There lies Africa renowned through many 
ages of antiquity, all benighted and bleeding to 
death of her spiritual wounds. Excepting Li- 
beria, Senegambia, and Cape Colony, which are 
like so many races in her trackless deserts, 
Africa remains to this hour a great moral waste. 
As for Asia, her spiritual condition is nearly 'as 



158 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF 

deplorable. Though, honored as the motherland 
of nations, and for haying within her embrace 
that land -which was the glory of all lands, yet 
has her honor and glory departed, and she is 
reduced to degradation and woe. This is a land 
that emphatically mourneth, " because joy is 
withered away form the sons of men." Over 
both Asia and Africa, the barbarian and the de- 
luded follower of the false prophet, Mohammed, 
wander and pitch their tents where they please. 
Upon both Continents gods are to be met with, 
of every form, material and description ; gods 
celestial and terrestrial, and subterraneous gods 
of the hills, of the valleys, of the woods, of the 
families, of the shop, and of the kitchen. There 
are gods that are supposed to preside over the 
thunder, the rain, the fire ; over the grain, over 
diseases, births and deaths ; and all these receive 
the homage due only to the Supreme Creator and 
Euler of the universe. In the vast regions 
Satan is still in his own territories, and holds 
in cruel bondage the unnumbered crowds that 
throng all the highways of superstition and idola- 
try, and few escape and find the tree of life which 
is ever spreading its branches and scattering its 



THE HUMAN EACE. 159 

leaves for the healing of the nations. There 
religion is scarce. Open your maps and point 
to the missionary posts. Many of these are 
hundreds of miles apart ; and between them the 
people are in darkness, error and sin. They 
have no Sabbath institutions; the sound of a 
Saviour that died to redeem man has not reached 
their ears, and they know nothing of the way 
of salvation through the Son of God. 

Now this is in some measure the condition of 
our race. The picture we have drawn is not an 
imaginary one. It is real. Of the nine hun- 
dred millions of rational beings inhabiting this 
terraqueous globe, probably not less than five 
hundred millions are living in lands noted for 
idolatry and superstition, and in others but par- 
tially enlightened by the gospel, and one hun- 
dred millions, are the followers of the impostor 
Mohammed. The Jews scattered in the four 
quarters of the world are to this day, as their 
fathers were in former ages, an unbelieving race, 
and rejectors and despisers of the Lord Jesus. 
Of the two hundred and fifty millions and up- 
wards that are living in countries denominated 
Christian, perhaps not one-half make a profes- 



160 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF^ 

sion of the Christian religion, and of those that 
bear the name of Christ, perhaps not more than 
one person in four is brought decidedly under 
the saving influences of the Holy Ghost. And 
this is the description not of the worst, but we 
would hope of the best period of the world, since 
the days of the apostles. For there probably 
never were more good people upon the earth at 
any one time than now. And yet, how sad is 
the state of the race ! How dark, how gloomy 
the condition of society ! How small the com- 
pany of believers ! Are we not seized with a 
shivering horror at the sight ? Do we not trem- 
ble exceedingly when we look at the moral and 
religious condition of these hundreds of millions 
of immortal beings who are without Christ 
and without hope in the world, and are thus pas- 
sing to the grave and to the bar of God ? " Be 
astonished at this, 0! ye heavens, and be ye 
horridly afraid, saith the Lord; the nations. have 
committed two evils ; they have forsaken God, 
the fountain of living waters, and hewed them 
out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no 
water." 

But must the world forever remain in this 



THE HUMAN RACE. 161 

lost estate ! no ! a brighter destiny, a more 
glorious transformation awaits it. We read of 
a period when the earth shall be full of the 
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
sea. This brings us to our second general state- 
ment, namely, that it is, 

II. The duty of Christians to exert themselves as 
much as possible } for the conversion of the world to 
the religion of Christ. 

1. In the most ancient times Grod frequently 
spoke to the people through patriarchs and pro- 
phets. These he sent to show men their sins, 
and the fearful consequences if they continued 
in them. When he sent his prophet Isaiah, he 
bid him a cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice 
like a trumpet, and show my people their trans- 
gression, and the house of Jacob their sins." 
And when they were convinced of their sins, 
and humbled on account of them, he sent his 
prophets to invite them to accept of grace and 
pardon. " Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come 
ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, 
come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and 
milk, without money and without price." And 



162 THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 

Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews says, God 
haying at sundry times and in divers manners, 
spoken in time past unto the fathers, by the 
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us 
by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all 
things, by whom also he made the worlds." 
And the blessed Saviour himself, says, iL I came 
not to call the righteous but sinners to repent- 
ance." As soon as he entered upon his minis- 
try, his language to a sinful and ruined world 
was, "Kepent and believe the gospel." And 
"come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke 
upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and 
lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your 
souls." And when he was about to leave the 
world and ascend to his Father in heaven, He 
gave his disciples this sacred commission, "Go 
ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all 
things whatsoever I have commanded you : and 
lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the 
world." By virtue of this commission, not only 
the apostles themselves, but all faithful minis- 



TO THE WORLD. 163 

ters who have succeeded them until this present 
time, or may yet succeed them until the end of 
world, are sent to invite men to receive the 
Holy Scriptures, and to accept of the terms of 
salvation offered in them. It is our duty as 
ministers to call upon men to repent, and strive 
to turn them from dead works to the service of 
the living God. We are ambassadors for Christ. 
We are to proclaim as heralds the will of Al- 
mighty God to our fellow-men; to speak of 
pardon and peace to those who, seeing their aw- 
ful situation, humble themselves, and come in 
the all-prevailing name of Jesus Christ ; but it is 
also our duty to denounce in the most solemn 
and fearful manner God's wrath and heavy dis-^ 
pleasure against all such as continue in their 
sins and rebellion. It is our office to turn men 
from darkness to light, and from the power of 
sin and Satan unto God. 

Millions upon millions have through this great 
instrumentality been urged to Christ. Soon after 
the apostles received their commission from 
their Lord and Master they separated themselves, 
and went forth and preached the gospel, every- 
where. And so effectual was their preaching 



164 THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 

that before John had closed the canon of the 
New Testament, some were already redeemed 
out of every nation, kindred ; tongue and people. 
So mightily did the word of the Lord increase 
and prevail; that the ancient Christian writers 
compared it to lightning, which appears sud- 
denly, and immediately disposes itself far over 
the earth. In less than two hundred years from 
the days of Christ, says Lactantius, " the Chris- 
tian religion was received all over the world 
from east to west." And from that time to the 
present what vast multitudes have been persua- 
ded to embrace the Christian religion by means 
of preaching. And blessed be the name of the 
Lord, that we are not left in the dark. 

Three hundred years ago the sun of righteous- 
ness arose upon our shores. Since then the 
gospel has been preached in our fair America ; 
men, women, and children have been taught the 
way of the Lord, many have been reconciled to 
our heavenly Father, and are living in the en- 
joyment of peace ; and many have gone to live 
and reign with Christ above. 

But, although the work of saving souls and 
evangelizing the world belongs in an especial 



TO THE WOKLD. 165 

manner to the ministers of Christ, who are bound 
to attend to the highest and best interests of the 
race, yet we are all concerned in it, so far as we 
have opportunity and ability. All who have 
tasted of the good word of life and have felt the 
powers of the world to come, no difference what 
may be their calling or occupation or what 
amount of knowledge, or wealth, or influence 
they may have ; they are called upon to take 
part in this glorious work of extending the 
triumphs of the cross to the ends of the earth, 
Now, 

2. In our endeavors to do good and hasten 
on a better state of religion in the Christian 
church, and recommend it, and impress it upon 
the world, we may receive much aid and en- 
couragement from such as have already distin- 
guished themselves in this respect and who lived 
in other ages. Look, for example, at the char- 
acter of the apostle Paul. See how ardently he 
desired the salvation of men. Listen to his 
language concerning the Jews : a I say the truth 
in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing 
me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great 
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 



166 THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 

For I could wish, that myself were accursed 
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen ac- 
cording to the flesh, who are Israelites; to whom 
pertaineth the adoption, and the covenants; and 
the giving of the law, and the service of God, 
and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of 
whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came ; who 
is over all, God blessed for ever." But, how- 
ever deeply interested the apostle was in the 
salvation of the Jewish people, yet his desires 
and efforts were not limited to them. His ex- 
pansive soul embraced also the Greek and the 
barbarian. He strove to promote the kingdom 
of the Eedeemer among all, whether Jew or 
Gentile, and for this purpose was incessantly 
engaged in preaching the Word, planting chur- 
ches and writing epistles. He regarded the 
spread of the gospel, whether in its oral or writ- 
ten character, as the great instrumentality of 
dispelling the dark night that shrouded the na- 
tions, and of introducing that light which would 
lead them to an eternal day. And being fully 
authorized by high heaven, to publish it with- 
out restriction as to nation or country, he most 
gladly aided in its diffusion every where over 



TO THE WORLD, 167 

the earth. In the fifteenth chapter of this epis- 
tle he informs us that, "from Jerusalem and 
round about unto Illyricuin," he had "fully 
preached the gospel of Christ." " Yea, so have 
I striven," says he, u to preach the gospel; not 
where Christ was named, lest I should build 
upon another man's foundation. But, as it is 
written, to whom he was not spoken of, they 
shall see, and they that have not heard, shall 
understand." That he might communicate to 
as many as possible, he traveled extensively 
by land and sea, visiting different and distant 
countries and nations ; surmounting all the dif- 
ficulties and hardships he met in the way. The 
sufferings, privations and dangers to which he 
was so constantly exposed, and which he so 
frequently had to endure, show how near to his 
heart lay the immortal interests of dying men. 
When noticing the labors and trials of others 
who had fought and died in the same glorious 
cause, and drawing a kind of comparison be- 
tween himself and them, he thus speaks: "In 
labors more abundant, in stripes above mea- 
sure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes 



168 THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 

save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once 
was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a 
night and a day I have been in the deep ; in 
journey ings often, in perils of water, in perils of 
robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in 
perils by the heathen ; in perils in the city, in 
perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in 
perils among false brethren ; in weariness and 
painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and 
thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." 
But in the review of all his past sufferings and 
conflicts, and in the anticipation of others that 
still awaited him in the future, he undauntingly 
exclaims: "None of these things move me, 
neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that 
I might finish my course with joy, and the min- 
istry Avhich I have received of the Lord Jesus, 
to testify the gospel of the grace of Grod." 

Now I ask, does this noble and philanthropic 
spirit which breathed in the breast of Paul, and 
manifested itself so conspicuously in his whole 
Christian career animate us and incite us onward 
to deeds of faith and love ? Have we hearts to 
feel and compassionate our fellow-men in their 
spiritual destitution and woes ? Are we anxious 



TO THE WORLD. 169 

that all the unhappy beings that constitute so * 
large a proportion of the population of every 
town, city and community in our country, might 
speedily be converted ? Do our sympathies ex- 
tend to those of every rank, condition and com- 
plexion within our borders that are out of 
Christ ? And do our hearts expand and em- 
brace other nations ; the ignorant and degraded 
of all lands ? Does the salvation of the Lap- 
lander, the African and the Hottentot, the Greek 
and the Spaniard, appear to us of as much import- 
ance as the salvation of our own countrymen, 
and neighbors, and friends, and relations ? And 
do we hear of the conversion of the Jews, an- 
ciently God's peculiar people, but now trodden 
down and dispersed, with some share of that 
delight which thrilled in the heart of the apostle 
when he witnessed the conversion of the Gen- 
tiles ? And are we willing to labor and make 
sacrifices, and endure hardships and afflictions, 
and privations and persecutions, and even death 
itself, if it be necessary for the spread of the 
Kingdom of the Eedeemer? It is impossible 
that such a desire should exist within us, and 
not prompt us to the highest and noblest efforts 

3 



170 THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 

for the good of all. Such a desire will cause us 
at once to enter upon a full discharge of our 
duty. Deeply imbued with this spirit which 
distinguished Paul, we shall be ready to act, to 
speak, and to write for the salvation of precious 
souls. Let the example of the apostle urge us, 
and the glorious example of our blessed Lord 
stimulate us to action. The condition of the 
present generation demands that we labor faith- 
fully and perseveringly. The prospect of the 
coming generation demands that we labor. Our 
missionaries in all parts of the world call upon 
us to put forth our efforts to raise the race and fit 
it for regenerated existence in morals and re- 
ligion. All things combine to warn Christians 

o o 

that renewed zeal, watchfulness and efforts, are 
imperatively called for ; and can we lie supinely 
and see men perish for lack of knowledge ? 

3. But if the salvation of souls be the ruling 
feeling of our hearts, it will manifest itself in 
our prayers. Prayer was a strong characteris- 
tic of Paul, and much used by him in coverting 
the nations to the religion of Jesus. In the 
text he exclaims, f- Brethren, my heart's desire 



TO THE WORLD. 171 

and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might 
be saved." At another time, he rises the follow- 
ing language : " God is my witness, whom I serve 
with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that 
without ceasing, I make mention of you always 
in my prayers." And what he thus practised 
himself, he also enjoined upon others, as is evi- 
dent from his direction to Timothy : " I exhort, 
therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, 
intercessions and giving of thanks be made for 
all men ; for kings, and for all that are in au- 
thority : that we may lead a quiet and peaceable 
life in all godliness and honesty. For this is 
good and acceptable in the sight of God, our 
Saviour, who will have all men to be saved, and 
come unto the knowledge of the truth." The 
apostle was convinced that God would not be 
unmindful of sincere, devout prayer, if offered 
up in behalf of the Jews, though their hands 
were yet red with the blood of his well-beloved 
Son, nor if offered in behalf of the other tribes 
of the earth, since they also had been invited to 
the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb. 

Now, this very excellent means of doing good 



172 THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 

we all can use, and it never fails when mixed 
with faith and love to draw down sooner or 
later blessings upon ourselves or others, or upon 
both. Without prayer the rains of divine grace 
would soon cease, and there would be no more 
seed-time, nor harvest in the vineyard of the 
Lord. The very heavens, so to speak, would 
become brass over our heads, and the earth un- 
der our feet would become iron. And how 
could we breathe an atmosphere caused by such 
a sad state of things ? How much better to cry 
out with the prophet, Jeremiah, "O that my 
head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of 
tears, that I might weep day and night, for the 
slain of the daughter of my people." By prayer 
wonders may be accomplished. By it souls 
are converted. Those frequently do as much 
for Christ, who intercede, like Moses on the 
mount, as those who like Joshua, fight in the 
midst of the battle-field. All the interests of 
Zion are promoted, and her welfare enlarged by 
prayer. Should not Christians therefore pray ? 
O ! let us pray for our kindred and acquaintan- 
ces, for the church, for the unconverted, for our 



TO THE WORLD. 173 

countrymen, and for the whole world. For each, 
and for all these let us plead. This should be 
our delight ; and would evince the highest charity. 
This were to resemble to blessed Jesus, who has 
taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy 
will be done on earth as it is in heaven." 

4. But, although there is much room for Chris- 
tian philanthrophy and enterprise, yet it is pleas- 
ing to know that the facilities for promoting the 
kingdom of Christ are greatly increasing and 
have greatly multiplied within the last few years. 
More attention is given to Christian education 
among children and youth than formerly. This 
is the case, not only in our own country, but in 
others. Sacred learning is on the rise, and semi- 
naries of learning are being erected in heathen 
lands. The Bible is extensively circulated, and 
is being translated into barbarous tongues. Ee- 
lgious books, tracts and periodicals are dis- 
tributed not only where the gospel is preached, 
but where it is not, or where the ministry can- 
not be supported. The temperance cause is 
promoted, and the liberality of Christians is 
greater now than ever known before. 



174 THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 

It is also pleasing to think that the different 
branches of Christ's church are becoming more 
and more- united, and harmonious in doing the 
work of the Lord. Schemes of Christian phil- 
anthropy and benevolence of a general character 
are constantly projecting, which, with the bles- 
sing of high heaven, cannot fail to exert a sav- 
ing influence upon the race, and upon genera- 
tions yet unborn. The time is perhaps not far 
distant, when the whole Christian church shall 
form one unbroken phalanx, one mighty army 
m subjugating the powers of darkness to the 
kingdom of the Eedeemer. 

What a blessed and glorious period will that 
be ! Then shall the gospel fly as upon the wings 
of the wind ; and the command of our Lord, to 
teach all nations will at once be complied with. 
Then shall all error and vice die, and every 
stream of human guilt and woe will be lost in 
the advancing tide of peace and righteousness. 
The Pagan altars and worship shall be quickly 
exchanged for the temples and service of the 
true and living God. False systems of philoso- 
phy and superstition will be prostrated and 



TO THE WORLD. 175 

annihilated, and the kingdoms of this world will 
bow beneath, the sceptre of King Emmanuel. 
Christianity will overspread the earth in the 
luxuriance of its growth. The sound of Jesus 
shall go into all the earth, and his worlds unto 
the ends of the world. From the east and from 
the west, from the north and from the south, 
there shall go up the song of praise and thanks- 
giving to Him that has conquered his enemies 
and established his universal and everlasting 
empire. Yes, then shall be witnessed every- 
where over the habitable globe the fulfillment 
of the prophecy. " As the rain cometh down, 
and the snow from heaven, and returneth not 
thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it 
bring forth and bud that it may give seed to 
the sower, and bread to the eater ; so shall my 
word be that goeth forth out of my mouth ; it 
shall not return unto me void, but it shall ac- 
complish that which I please, and it shall pros- 
per in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall 
go out with joy, and be led forth with peace ; 
the mountains and the hills shall break forth 
before you into singing, and all the trees of the 



176 THE DUTY OF CHEISTIANS 

fields shall clap their hands. Instead of the 
thorn shall come up the fir tree ; and instead of 
the brier shall come up the myrtle, and it shall 
be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting 
sign that shall not be cut off.' 7 



TO THE WOELD. 177 



PEAYEE. 

God, Thou art the Creator of the heavens 
and the earth ; and the Euler and Preserver of all 
the nations and tribes of men that dwell upon 
the face of the whole earth. Thy kingdom en- 
dureth for ever. Thou art everywhere present 
in all parts of thy vast dominions ; and behold- 
est the good and the evil that is under the sun. 
No events can transpire without thy notice, and 
thy ears are open to the prayers and supplica- 
tions of all who call upon Thee in sincerity and 
in truth. 

We adore Thee,' our Grod, for thy boundless 
compassion to a lost race, in the mission of thy 
dear Son into our world, not to condemn the 
world, but that the world through Him might 
be saved. Thou didst make him to be a sin-of- 



178 THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 

fering for us, that we, through, his righteousness 
might have eternal life. 0, how great thy good- 
ness and love in thus condescending to provide 
grace and glory for creatures so depraved and 
rebellious. 

We feel that we cannot be sufficiently thank 
ful for the very many blessings and privileges 
which we enjoy. Thou hast permitted us to be 
born and reared in a land where the true light 
shineth. From our infancy we have heard the 
gospel preached, and have had within our reach 
the Holy Scriptures. Thou hast given us Sab- 
baths and ordinances, and all things necessary 
for life and godliness. Bless the Lord, our 
souls, and forget not all his benefits; who for- 
giveth all our iniquities, who healeth all our 
diseases, who redeemeth our lives from destruc- 
tion, who crowneth us with loving kindness and 
tender mercies. 

But we grieve to think so many refuse to give 
heed to the means of grace. Lord, Thou seest 



TO THE WORLD. 179 

how many harden their hearts and shut their 
eyes against the truth. Thou seest how iniquity 
abounds. Behold how sin hath pervaded all 
ranks and conditions of men. O when shall 
iniquity be removed ? When shall all unright- 
eousness cease ; and Thy name no more be blas- 
phemed; nor Thy word and ordinances be op- 
posed and despised ? 

We bless Thee, Grod, for what has already 
been accomplished by thy people for the cause 
of truth and righteousness in the earth. And 
we pray that we may never incur the curse of 
the angel of the covenant for not coming to the 
help of the Lord against the mighty. We would 
deem it an honor to be employed by Thee, and 
be anxious to be instruments in thy hands of 
doing good. May we be ready to seize every 
opportunity of usefulness, and be willing to use 
our talents, and influence, and substance for Thy 
glory and the salvation of dying men. May we 



180 THE DUTY OF CHKISTIANS 

frequently inquire, Lord, wliat wilt Thou have 
me to do ? 

We pray that Thou wouldst greatly bless Zion. 
Divest her of pride, strife, and vain glory. May 
thy people maintain sound doctrine, and exhibit 
purity and amiableness of character. Be pleased 
to smile upon all missionary societies, and the 
efforts that are making by individuals and chur- 
ches, and communities for the promotion of the 
spiritual welfare of the entire race. May all 
engaged in this glorious work of faith and love 
view one another with pleasure, and rejoice 
in each other's success ; and although they do 
not all act in direct concert, yet may they do so 
in design and tendency. May they continue 
firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving for 
the faith of the gospel. And let thy good pleas- 
ure prosper in their hands. 

Bless, we beseech Thee, all who preach Jesus 
and the resurrection. May they preach with 
power and with the Holy Ghost. Clothe thy 



TO THE WOULD. 181 

ministers with salvation, let them be zealous in 
the proclamation of the word. And O let there 
not be a scarcity of those who offer themselves 
as ambassadors among the heathen. Let it be 
said, as it was in the beginning of the gospel, 
The Lord gave the word, and great was the 
company of them that published it. Be with 
those who are already among the heathen, 
preaching the unsearchable riches of Ohrist. 
Preserve their health and morals, their zeal and 
spirituality, and make them examples of all they 
teach. 

Bless the rising race. May they grow up 
the monuments, examples and benefactors of 
their day and generation. O let them be found 
a seed to serve Thee when their fathers shall 
have passed away. 

Be mindful of the rulers of the earth. 
guide and protect the chief magistrate of our 
own nation. Teach our senators and represen- 
tatives wisdom. Give us laws just, mild and 



182 THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS 

beneficent ; founded in regard to the best inter- 
ests of all the people. Inspire men of all ranks 
and conditions within our borders with a love 
to that righteousness which exalts a nation ; and 
with an abhorrence of all sin. 

And grant ; O God, that all the events that 
take place among the nations may hasten the 
spread of the Redeemer's kingdom. Dethrone 
the god of this world, and destroy his works. 
Let all enemies of the cross of Christ be silenced. 
Call into thy church the Jew with the fulness 
of the Gentiles. O, have mercy upon the de- 
scendants of those who crucified the Saviour, 
and let his dying petition be answered. Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they do. 
Let Asia be regenerated, and Africa enlightened, 
and the distant Islanders be taught thy law, and 
the waste places of our own land be filled with 
temples dedicated to thy honor and glory. 
that from this land, and every other land of vis- 
ion, the light might quickly break forth upon 



TO THE WORLD. 183 

those regions that are yet enveloped in dark- 
ness. Let all nations, kindred, tongues and 
people come and worship before Thee ; and in 
every place let there be a pure offering in right- 
eousness. Let thy kingdom come, and thy will 
be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen. 



[T Ja:u 23 1881. : 



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